Skater Girl 2
by emackenzie
Summary: The ups and the downs of young love.  Non-tribal Jay/Ebony
1. Chapter 1

Here is the second part to Skater Girl, it picks up after Jay has graduated high school, towards the end of summer. Let me know what you think.

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><p>Ebony stood frozen in the front door to her house. She wasn't sure if it was the summer heat, or the paint, but she was sure she was seeing things. She knew she had to be seeing things, or it had to be a dream. But she could still smell the fumes of the paint coming from the nursery, and the heat of the summer air instantly warming her cheeks.<p>

"Hi." He gave her the half sided smile he used when he was hesitant of her mood, unsure of how mad she was.

Ebony couldn't say anything, she didn't know what to say. She just stood there, staring at him, trying to process what she was seeing.

"I'm back." He said looking down at the shoe box in his hands.

"Back?" Ebony said looking at him stunned, he wasn't due back for another three weeks, that was the only thing she was sure of. "You're back."

"Here." He said holding the box out for her, taking the lid off.

She looked down at the shoe box, making no moves to take it from him. There were stacks of envelopes, and an envelope crumpled into a ball on the top of all of them. She looked back up at him.

"They are for you." He said, not moving his hands, still extending the box for her. He knew coming here was going to turn into a standoff, but he was determined to win.

"I don't understand." Ebony said backing into the doorway farther, wondering if she was still asleep, it didn't makes sense, she had to be dreaming.

"You can't be mad at me, I wrote you every day." He sighed, still offering her the shoe box.

"Can't be mad?" Ebony laughed, mad wasn't an emotion she was feeling at the moment. She just kept looking at him, waiting for something else to happen. She was starting to second guess herself, maybe this really was a dream, because in reality he wouldn't show up, not after leaving her without a word. He would be dumb to think that she would want to see him.

"I wanted to tell you, but I wanted to surprise you as well." Jay smiled at her. "Maybe a surprise wasn't the best of ideas."

"Where were you?" she suddenly asked. When he had left a month ago, he hadn't told her where he was going, just when he would be back, and even that seemed like something he didn't want to share with her. She couldn't help but wonder if he would have even told her if she hadn't seen all the luggage.

"Africa." He told her.

"Africa?" she laughed. "I'd as soon believe you were shacked up with blonde."

"It was a graduation gift, and a family vacation. My father is very interested in tribal life styles, it was some research thing." He explained. "Ram, Mega, and some of my class mates came with us."

"Some?" she asked. "You mean Amber."

"She was there." He told her softly, knowing it wasn't what she wanted to hear. "And I asked her to give you a letter when she got back."

"You've got to be kidding me, Jay." Ebony rolled her eyes.

"Ram went on to Greece, he just got back a few days ago. I couldn't send word with him."

"Africa, what a boyfriend." Ebony crossed her arms in front of her.

"Boyfriend?" he asked, smiling at the way she said it. He was almost certain it was going to take much longer than a few minutes on her door step.

Ebony pressed her lips together and glared at him for a second before she gave in and smiled.

Jay smiled at her, and stepped inside the door way, letting the box fall to the ground so he could wrap both his arms around the angry looking girl. He pulled her tight to him for a second, kissing the top of her head, before lifting her off the ground and spinning her around, he was so happy just to be able to see her again.

When Ebony was back on the ground her leaned back, and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself up to kiss him. She was finally able to feel excited that he was back, "If you ever, and I mean anywhere close, do something like this again, I'm going to hurt you."

"You missed me that much?" he whispered before kissing her.


	2. Chapter 2

"I can't believe you let him off that easy." Cloe said a few hours later, while Ebony told her about what had happened.

"What did you want me to do?" Ebony asked looking at Cloe in the mirror.

"Punch him, scream at him? I don't know. But the guy left for a whole month without even letting you know where he was going, I'd still be mad." Cloe said rubbing her stomach. She couldn't believe how big she was.

"He's back, and that's all that really matters to me." Ebony replied, she knew there was no good reason for her letting Jay off that easy. "Does Jack know you're at work?' she asked changing the subject.

"Ha! No." Cloe said turning around to face Ebony

"But didn't you two agree that you wouldn't work past month eight?" Ebony asked eyeing Cloe.

"Yes." Cloe said simply. "But we need the money. We are going to have hospital bills pretty soon, and I can't except you and your family to keep letting us live with you. So we'll need money for rent. Then there are baby clothes, food, toys. Everything cost money and we don't have a lot of it."

"You don't have to worry about half that stuff Clo." Ebony said rolling her eyes at her friend. She had gone over this a million times with her. "You guys are more then welcome to stay with me as long as you want. Jack's parents agreed to paying off the hospital bill and helping as long as the two of you stay in school and work part time. Everything is pretty much taken care of."

"That's the thing Ebony. We aren't always going to have people around to take care of us. We have to be able to do things on our own." Cloe replied.

Ebony didn't say anything. She knew what Cloe meant and she knew she was right. "Alright, well are you off yet?"

Cloe glanced up at the clock. "Yeah. My shift ended 15 minutes ago."

"About time woman." Ebony said walking towards the front of the store, she had been picking Cloe up from her job for almost five months now.

"Bye Cindy, see you tomorrow." Cloe called out to a co-worker.

"Bye." Cindy responded.

As Cloe walked out of the store she stopped and looked up at the green sign above the entranceway. She never once thought that she would work there. Motherhood was a shop that she had never even stepped in to until six months ago.

"Cloe, seriously, lets go." Ebony said interrupting Cloe's thoughts.

Cloe smiled at Ebony and started to walk towards her. But her steps were shorter than what they normally were because of how big her stomach had become.

Mackenzie stood behind a tree. Her back was pressed straight against the trunk, her arms at her sides and she held her breath. The fear of him finding her was too great. She could feel herself shaking even though she was trying to be as still as she could. She tried to breath deeply and quietly, to help calm her nerves, but she knew she was being loud. She could hear the footsteps coming closer and the soft sound of his chuckle. The noise he always made right before he got his pray. She knew there was only one way to survive. Get him before he got her. She brought herself so her side was now leaning against the tree. She quickly got down low and into attack mode. There was no way she would let him win. Not this time. Barely peaking around the tree she could see him walking towards her looking all around the yard. It didn't even take her a second before she fired and hit him in the leg.

"Haha." Mackenzie laughed firing her gun again. "Oh how sweet victory is." She said standing up and hitting him yet again, but this time in the arm so he couldn't fire back.

"Psycho little sister on the lose, I see." Jacob said dropping his paint ball gun. "I guess I'm going to have to start playing against Blake."

"Hey, don't even think about that one." Blake said from the window of the house where he had been watching. "Last time I played that game I ended up in the hospital for three hours."

"That's only because you wouldn't wear your damn helmet. And you were playing yesterday." Mackenzie said taking the facemask off.

"That's not the point." Blake said rolling his eyes at his sister.

"Maybe all of us should play." Jacob said. "You know get Lindsey out of the house. Maybe Java would get off the phone. I bet we could even get Ebony, too."

Mackenzie rolled her eyes. She didn't know what had been going on with her sister. But ever since Jacob had come back to town Mackenzie had started seeing less and less of Ebony. "I wouldn't count on it."

"Well as for now kids I've got to split. I've got some stuff I've got to take care of. You know grown up things." Jacob laughed. He knew that his step father had to know what he was up to and why he was back in town. But he didn't care anymore. He didn't care what his step father thought about him. After everything with Ebony he was sure that his step father had a very twisted idea of who he was. But he knew that he had to protect his little sisters from what he was doing. Lindsey and Mackenzie were the last people he wanted to see shooting up.

"Yeah you gonna be home for dinner?" Mackenzie asked looking at her brother.

"I'll try." Jacob said before disappearing from the yard.

"It's good to have the family back." Mackenzie said thinking out loud.

"Yeah well there is someone here to see you. I would have said something earlier but I didn't want to disrupt the game." Blake said with his head still out the window.

"Oh yeah?" Mackenzie asked looking at her watch as she picked it up off the table. "Who is it?"

"I'm going to make that part a surprise. You know I want to see your face when you see this." Blake said smiling.

"Well then lets make this quick. I'm going out tonight and I still have to get ready." Mackenzie said before coming into the house.

"Oh I don't think you'll be going out on anything." Blake laughed at his little sister when she walked by him in the house.

"Is that so?" Asked Mackenzie as she followed her brother to the family room. "There are very few things that would keep me from going to this-" she stopped when they walked into the room. She could smell him. She loved that fact about him. She could always smell him before she could see him.

"Yeah well I think he might be one of the things that will stop you." Blake said patting his sister on the back before leaving the room.

"Hey." He said standing up.

Mackenzie couldn't say anything. She didn't know what to say. She just stood there looking at him. Her mind was total blank. She knew that it should be going a million miles a thought but nothing was there. Nothing but one word. "Ved."

"Well I think I will just let you two have some time." Blake said before leaving the room, on his way out he patted his sister on the back pulling her back to reality.

"Hey." Ved said with a small smile playing on his lips. He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked up at her. He knew that he shouldn't be here, but he had to explain.

Mackenzie stood there for a moment just looking at him, still trying to grasp the fact that he was standing in her house. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I thought I would come and see you. The real thing is always better than a phone call isn't it?" Ved asked trying to lighten up the tension on the room.

"Where the hell have you been?" Mackenzie asked as the feeling of anger started to over come her.

"In Africa." Ved said looking down at his shoes. He knew that she wouldn't believe that one, and he didn't blame her either.

"Right." Mackenzie said laughing. "Africa, that explains everything."

"Can we talk about it?" Ved asked looking at her. "That's really where I was. I want to tell you about it. Maybe we can go get some food or something?"

"I have a date tonight." Mackenzie said looking him straight in the eye. She knew that would hurt him more than anything else at the moment.

"Oh, right." Ved said trying to act like it was nothing. He knew that he had blown it; way before he even left things with them were over. He knew that when the whole fight after the graduation ceremony had ended things.

Mackenzie could see it in his baby blue eyes. The tears were there, even if Ved was going to fight them off they were there. She knew she had to stay strong for herself but she couldn't just stand there and watch him hurt like this, knowing it was pain she was causing him. "Maybe we can do it some other time. Summer's not over yet. School doesn't start for like another month or something."

Ved sighed, he knew when he was getting sympathy, and this was one of those times. "Yeah maybe." Was all he could think to say to her.

"Well I've got to get ready." Mackenzie said looking at him.

"Right, I've got to head home. I have a lot of unpacking to do. See you around, I guess." Ved said looking at her.

"Yeah right, around." Mackenzie said as she watched him walk out the door.

"That didn't go like I thought it would." Blake said from behind his sister.

"That was none of your business." Mackenzie said still staring at the door.

"Look you're my favorite little sister, so when you're hurting I'm hurting, and I know that you've been hurting all summer." Blake said putting an arm around his sister.

"I'm your only little sister and I haven't been hurting. I'm fine. I have a date I need to get ready for." Mackenzie asked turning away from her brother and heading towards the stairs.


	3. Chapter 3

"It's funny." Bray said looking over at Lex and Tai-san.

"What is?" Tai-san asked smiling.

"How fast everything has changed." Bray said slowly.

"What are you talking about?" Lex asked

"We're all gonna go off to college in a few months. Half our friends will still be here. It's like we're starting over and losing part of ourselves at the same time." Bray said thinking about what the change would mean.

"You can't think about it like that. Lex and I are going to school here, you and Siva won't be too far away." Tai-san said softly.

"We're still going to see each a lot." Lex said rubbing his girlfriends back.

"But we won't see each other every day. That's the weird part. I mean for the last three years we've seen each other every day and spent more time with each other than our own families. It's gonna be hard to just walk away from all of it for awhile." Bray said looking at the both of them. They had each other to keep them together, to keep them connected to the group. Siva has her sisters, but Bray, he didn't have anyone that would keep him there.

"Hey guys." Came Ebony's voice as she walked into the room. "What's going on?"

"Just chatting," Tai-san asked looking up at her. "How's your day going?"

"Fine, someone came by my house." Ebony said trying to control her smile.

"Jay?" Tai-san asked.

"What? That fool is back?" Lex asked looking at the two girls.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Ebony asked looking down at the two.

"He called your phone, which you left here last night, looking for you." Tai-san said. "Did he have anything interesting to say?"

"Nothing I can share." Ebony said walking over and sitting by Bray. "Why the long face?"

"He's getting cold feet about leaving." Lex said playfully.

"Bray?" Ebony asked looking at him.

"It's nothing." Bray said making himself smile at her. "Things are just going by really fast."

"Well that's what happens with time." Ebony said with a bright smile. "Anyone seen my little sister today?"

"She's at home getting ready for the concert." Tai-san said.

"Right, KC. It's still just way too weird that they are like a couple now. I wonder if she knows that Ved is back yet." Ebony said sitting back.

"Did you take Cloe home, I've been trying to get a hold of Jack?" Lex asked.

"Yeah, she's in the car." Ebony said with a yawn. "Well this has been fun guys but I just came over to get my phone."

"That's sweet, you really want to send time with us, don't you?" Lex said laughing.

"Sorry Lex, you know me. I'm a busy girl. I'm going over to Jay's." Ebony said quickly grabbing her phone and heading towards the door.

"Make him wear a jimmy." Lex said with a sly smile.

"Prev." Ebony shouted before walking out the door.

Mackenzie stood looking at her reflection in the mirror. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was doing something wrong. "Just because Ved's back doesn't mean you can't go out with KC." She said to herself. She felt so guilty going out with KC now, now that Ved knew what was going on.

"Mac, he's here." Her brother Blake shouted from the stairs.

"Okay." Mackenzie said looking at herself again. She had never spent so much time getting ready for anything before, but she knew that she had to look nice, this wasn't sure for her and KC, this was for all of KC's family.

Walking down the stairs, and seeing KC made her feel guilty, like she was sneaking behind his back, keeping this news from him. But she had to make herself think positively. It was none of their business if Ved was back, it didn't matter to her. She was going to enjoy herself tonight, no matter what. "Hey."

"You look great." KC said giving her a quick kiss then taking her hand. "Is that the outfit you bought when you picked out this tie?"

"Thank you and yes, as a matter of fact it is." Mackenzie said smiling at him.

"You want to grab something to eat before we head over to the concert?" KC asked opening the door to his car for her.

Mackenzie let out a giggle, she had never dated a guy for so long and had him still opening doors for her, and she liked that about KC. "That sounds good to me. Where do you want to go?" she asked.

"I really just want a burger and fries." KC said when he got into the drivers seat.

"That sounds really good." Mackenzie said smiling. "What time do your parents want us to meet them?"

"A little before seven. They already have seats saved, I guess. Mouse said that every family got five seats saved for them." KC said smiling over at her.

"I bet she is nervous." Mackenzie said fixing her hair. She knew that it was silly, she never cared what she looked like, but she still wanted KC's parents to think highly of her.

"Well it's not ever day she gets a solo." Replied KC.

"Did she say how she was liking summer band classes? I still can't believe that she can play the cello and she's only eight." Mackenzie laughed. "I don't think I could even make myself a sandwich when I was eight."

"I don't think you would be able to make one now." KC laughed.

Mackenzie laughed as well, she wanted this night to be perfect for them. She didn't want to think about Ved, or even mention his name to KC. She knew that this was going to change their relationship, she knew that it would most likely end it. But she didn't want to have to even think about that. Not tonight. Tonight she wanted to be with her boyfriend. The boy that had promised her that he would never leave without telling her where he was going, even if they were fighting.

Ebony was sitting on Jay's couch, his father on one side of her and Jay on the other. They had already gotten all their pictures and things put into an album and Jay's father had insisted that Ebony look at it as soon as she arrived.

"You don't need to see these, Amber is in them." Jay's father, Richard Lindwood, said turning the page. "She was such a pain to have. I wish that you would have graduated, and then we could have brought you along as well. But I guess you'll get to join Ved on his trip, which will be just splendid, I'm already planning it."

"Let's just not making this one too much of a surprise, alright?" Jay asked looking at his father and then at Ebony.

"Oh, yes, yes. I'm deeply sorry about that," Richard said looking at Ebony. "Jay told me how upset you were. I should have insisted on having another person join us. I don't know what I was thinking. I truly hope that I didn't not ruin your relationship. You know you mean a great deal to Jayden."

"Dad, please?" Jay said feeling his face go red.

Ebony looked up at Richard and smiled. "Did he tell you that I meant a great deal to him?" I asked with a smile.

"Oh my dear all he could talk about was you while we were gone. Has he not given you the letter's that he wrote you?" Richard asked.

"Dad!" Jay said feeling as though his face was redder than blood.

"Jay hush, your mouth," Ebony said turning and pushing her hand over his mouth. "He brought a shoe box of letters."

"Oh well, he brought back what seemed like a suitcase of letters and other little things that he bought, just for you. I have never seen my son more in love with a girl." Richard told Ebony.

Ebony turned around and looked at Jay, "So you love me?" she asked with a smile, removing her hand from his mouth.

Jay grabbed her hand quickly and brought it back up to his lips and kissed it. "More than you know." He said looking her in the eye.

"Well I can see that you two have a lot of catching up to do. Ebony, is it alright if we finish looking though this another day? Perhaps at Jay's little celebration dinner?" Richard asked standing up.

"Celebration dinner?" Ebony asked rising a questionable eyebrow.

"I think that I will just leave before I ruin anymore surprises." Richard said before walking out of the room.

"Celebration dinner?" Ebony asked turning to look at Jay.

"I sort of got into UCLA." Jay said smiling.

"UCLA?" Ebony asked in almost a whisper.

"Yeah, it's in Los Angeles." Jay said not able to read her reaction.

"I know where it is." Ebony said slowly. "Congratulations, I mean it's a tough school to get into."

"Look it's not official, I'm still waiting to hear from some other schools." Jay said know seeing that she was upset.

"I didn't know you wanted to go to UCLA." Ebony said choking back her emotions.

"I don't. I mean, when I applied there it was more of a joke. All my friends applied there. That's where Ram and Amber are going. But I, I don't want to go there. I'm still waiting to hear from Northern." Jay said putting his hand on the side of her face.

"You're kidding, right? Jay you can't turn down UCLA for a state college. It's ridiculous." Ebony said looking at him.

"Not when Northern is here and you're here." Jay said pulling her closer to him.

"You can not pick your college based on where I am. We've already gone over all that." Ebony said resting her head on his chest as they laid back on the couch.

"We don't need to worry about where I'm going. Right now all I want to think about is you." Jay said smiling at me. "Why don't we watch a movie or something?"

"Alright." Ebony didn't want to push the matter anymore. She snuggled in closer to Jay and shoved her hands under him, as he reached for the remote.

"Jayden!" Jay's mother's voice rang through the room before the TV was turned on.

"Yeah?" Jay asked from his position on the couch.

"Amber and her parents are joining us for dinner, what would you like-" Jay's mother said stopping when she saw them laying on the couch together. "Oh, Ebony, you're here." She said trying to act as though she didn't know Ebony was there.

"Hi Mrs. Lindwood." Ebony said forcing herself to smile.

"Ebony and I are ordering in." Jay said not bothering to even look at his mother.

"Well that is very rude of you. We are having guest, and you will be there." Jay's mother said walking in front of them and snapping the remote out of his hands.

"Mother, we haven't even been back for 24 hours, all I want to do is spend time with Ebony. Let's go upstairs, we can watch something in my room." Jay said smiling at Ebony.

"Jay, we can hang out after dinner, it's not that big of a deal." Ebony said as she stood up. She could feel the tension in the room grow.

"See, she doesn't mind leaving. She doesn't need to be here, we should all be resting anyways." Jay's mother said not even looking at Ebony.

"Well then we don't need to have a dinner party tonight." Jay said standing up and taking Ebony's hand. He started to lead her out of the room when his mother spoke again.

"We have to make the arrangements. The party is in two days, everything was planned out before we left. And Amber's mother and I were talking, and we want to find you two a nice place to live. I will not be sending you off to UCLA to live in some tiny dorm where you have to share a bathroom." Jay's mother said.

Her words made Ebony stop walking. Why did it sound to her that something else was going on. Jay's mother was acting as thought Jay and Amber were getting married or something. Arrangements, party, a nice house for two, those were not words a mother used getting ready to send her son off to college. She looked up at Jay as he started talking.

"I have already told you and dad that I don't know where I want to go yet, I don't understand why the two of you can't understand that, and I don't want to live with Amber if I do decide to go there. I would rather live on the streets." Jay said looking at his mother. "Now Ebony and I are going upstairs to my room. We will be ordering in food later for dinner, and she may even spend the night. So we do not want to be bothered anymore by you."

Ebony felt her body being yanked as Jay pulled on her arm to get out of the room.

"Popcorn?" Jay asked as we walked down one of the many halls in his house.

"Yeah, I need some water." I said hugging his arm. He had just stood up for her to his mother, that was something that he hadn't done in a long time and it felt good to know that he truly wanted to spend time with her.

"So what will it be kettle, cheddar or butter?" Jay asked as he looked up in the popcorn cupboard.

"Extra butter." Ebony said opening the refrigerator to get out two bottled waters.

"I'm really sorry about my mom, you know how she can be." Jay said as he came up behind Ebony and put his arms around her.

"It's alright." Ebony said leaning back into him. "I do have a question though." Ebony said turning around and putting her arms around his neck.

"Yeah?" Jay asked moving his head closer to hers.

Their lips met softly and rested on each other for a second before they pulled away.

"Yeah, where is this suitcase your dad was talking about?" Ebony asked with a sweet smile.

Jay let out a laugh and pulled her tighter to him spinning her around so her feet were off the ground.

"Jay!" Ebony shouted tightening her grip around his neck. "God I missed you." She whispered as he stopped and her feet slowly touched the ground again.

Jay gave her another quick kiss before going over to the microwave and putting the popcorn in. He was about to say something else, when the kitchen door swung open and Jay's father appeared in the door way.

"Children." He said looking at the two teenagers.

"Yes?" Ebony asked giving him a smile.

"My wife seems to be upset." Richard said looking over at his son.

"Well that seems to be something that happens a lot." Jay said reaching out and pulling Ebony over to him while he rested against the microwave.

"Yes, but it seems that you've upset her Jay." Richard replied as he started to give his son that look of don't mess with me.

"Well she upset me." Jay said wrapped his arms around Ebony as she turned to face his father.

Ebony lean back against Jay and put her hands on his arms as they were draped over her shoulders. "It really was my fault." Ebony spoke up.

"No it wasn't." Jay said looking at her.

"Dear I'm sure that you didn't upset her." Richard said smiling at Ebony. "Look I understand that the two of you want to spend time together, you have been apart for awhile. But Jay, your mother has been planning this dinner all day, Ram and his parents are even coming. We want to discus something's, college things."

"UCLA things." Ebony said looking back up at Jay.

"I want to be with Ebony right now, and I do not want to go to UCLA." Jay said looking at his father.

"I'm not saying that you can't be with Ebony. I want Ebony to join us tonight. You aren't the only one that has missed having her around. Ved and I, I'm sure would love to catch up with her as well." Richard said. He left his wife out as he always did when it came to Ebony. He knew what his wife thought, but could care less, because if this girl made Jay smile the way he had been, then he knew that he liked her.

"That will get you guys off our case for the day?" Jay asked looking at his dad then at Ebony.

"I promise." Richard said putting his hands up in the air. "Scouts honor."

"You want to have dinner with everyone tonight?" Jay asked looking down at Ebony.

Ebony thought about it for a minute. She really didn't want to have to deal with Amber, her parents and Jay's mother all in the same room. It was a sickening combination. She had grown to like Ram, and his parents when they were around seemed to like her as well. "Sure." She said knowing that she couldn't say no, with Jay's father standing right there.

"Good, you two go enjoy your movie, don't fill up on popcorn." Richard said before disappearing back out the door.


	4. Chapter 4

Ved sat in the diner at the bar, Tommy was on one side of him and Jesse was on the other. He hadn't been saying much. This whole day hadn't turned out how he had thought. While he was gone he had dreamt that when he came back his friends would throw him a welcome home party at the diner, there would be a big sign and people everywhere, and Mackenzie would be there hugging and kissing him. But instead he sat there with Tommy and Jesse thinking about what Mackenzie was doing on this 'date' that she had. He still wanted to know who she was going out with.

"So did you two like not even realize that I was gone?" Ved asked trying to keep from thinking to much about Mac and her date.

"Look man, we just thought that you were taking a break or something. Things with Mackenzie, then her dating again. We didn't think about it that much." Jesse said reaching for the ketchup.

"What do you mean dating again?" Ved asked looking over at Jesse, was his Mac dating a lot since he'd been gone.

"Yeah I've been meaning to tell you sorry about that. I don't know what I would have done if that happened to me. I would most likely beat the crap out of the guy." Tommy said looking over at Ved with his mouth full of French fries.

"What-" Ved stopped when he saw her standing in the door way. She had just walked into the diner and Ved felt as though is heart stopped when he heard her laugh. All the other noise around him seemed to be muffled out and all he could hear was her laugh. She walked into the diner looking more beautiful that Ved had ever remembered seeing her. She looked genuinely happy. He now noticed that her hair was different, in fact the entire way she was dressed was different than Ved remembered. He quickly blinked thinking that he was seeing things, but he wasn't. He had never seen Mac look the way she did at that moment. He was sure that she had on make up because he couldn't see her light freckles and her eyes looked darker. Her hair had been fixed and Ved knew that she hated fixing her hair. It was perfectly straight and smooth. As his eyes traveled down her body he became more stunned. He had never seen her in a skirt and heels before, but now here she was wearing strapy grey heels that matched her steal grey skirt. Her white ribbed tank was cut low, but fit her perfectly.

Ved started to push himself up, so that he could go talk to her but fell right back in his seat when he saw who came in behind her, holding her hand. The kid that he remembered with green spiky hair now had light brown hair, but it was still spiked up.

"She's dating KC…" Ved muttered to himself. He was in total shock. He couldn't believe what he saw. But it didn't seem like more than a few seconds went by before he was enraged. He got up and walked towards them.

Mackenzie laughed as KC held the door open for her. "If I'm not careful you might just sweep me off my feet."

"Your feet eh?" KC said as he walked in behind her. He scooped her up in his arms and spun her around, but suddenly stopping.

Mackenzie was still laughing when KC put her down. But when she didn't hear him laughing as well she stopped. She glanced up at him and saw the serious look on his face. She followed his gaze and found Ved. She could almost hear her heart pounding in her ears while she looked at him.

"He's back." KC said unsure of what else to do.

"So this is your date?" Ved asked looking at Mackenzie.

"Ved." Mackenzie could see the anger in his eyes. "Please, let me explain."

"There is nothing to explain." Ved glared at KC. "I don't want to deal with either of you anymore." He said before pushing between them and going out the door they had just come in.

Mackenzie let out a sigh of relief and looked over at KC. That had gone a lot better than she had thought it would. But KC looked mad, and he was looking right back at her. "What?" she asked.

"You knew he was back." KC said trying to keep his tone of voice normal and calm.

"No, well yeah, sorta." Mackenzie said looking from her hands to his face. "He came by my house this afternoon."

"And you didn't bother to tell me?" asked KC.

"I didn't think it mattered." Mackenzie lied. She knew that it mattered, she just didn't want it to matter.

"You didn't think it mattered." Laughed KC. He was annoyed that she would try and do this. He knew that he shouldn't be, but he couldn't help it. "You weren't going to tell me where you?"

"I was." Mackenzie said pleading with him. She knew that he was mad and she knew what was coming. "I just didn't want this to ruin your sister's big night."

"Well it's ruined our night." KC said shaking his head. "I-I don't want to be with you right now." He said before turning and leaving Mackenzie standing in the diner alone.

* * *

><p>"You and your dad seem a lot closer." Ebony said as she pulled Jay's comforter up on her legs.<p>

"A lot of good things came out of the trip to Africa." Jay replied as he twirled one of Ebony's braids around his finger.

"Yeah like what?" Ebony asked as she snuggled in closer to Jay. The two of them were laying in his bed with a movie playing, but neither of them were really watching it.

"I realized how much I hated to be away from you." Jay said kissing the top of her head.

"And I'm still waiting for the suit case full of things." Ebony said looking up at him.

"You'll get it when I'm ready to give it to you." Jay replied looking up at the TV that was hanging on the wall. Jay laid there thinking for a minute before saying anything. "I have a question."

"Yeah?" Ebony asked looking up at him again.

"Where is your jeep?" Jay asked giving her a funny look.

Ebony left her body tense up a little, she let out a small nervous laugh, "You don't want to know."

"Yeah, I really do." Jay replied looking at her. He had wondered where her jeep had been when he had gone to her house, and now, with a different car parked in the driveway.

"My father decided that I wasn't mature enough for my own car, despite the fact that my mom disagrees. So I've been driving her car, until my birthday." Ebony replied looking away from him. She didn't want to have to tell him the real reason, she knew that it would just upset him.

"What'd you do to make your father think you weren't mature?" Jay questioned.

"Just a little run in with the police again." Ebony said still not looking at him. She didn't want to see his reaction when she told him what happened.

"Police, and your mom disagrees with him." Jay asked looking at her, he wasn't sure if she was going to look back.

"She trusts me, but she did allow him to take my Jeep." Ebony said softly.

"You want to just skip the whole bull shit part and tell me what happened?" Jay asked.

"I was arrested, can we leave it at that?" Ebony asked.

"Arrested? For what?" Jay said sitting up as well.

"There was a party, it got busted. Nothing all that big." Ebony looked at him for a second.

"What's the real story?" Jay asked.

"I was with Jacob." She said in almost a whisper.

"What!" Jay shouted as he stood up. He looked down at Ebony, he could feel anger rush though his body. "What the hell where you doing him?"

"It…well…it just happened." Ebony said watching him as he started to pace around.

"So you just hang out with junkies, not only junkies but ones that almost killed you." Jay laughed sarcastically.

"I don't want to get into this again." Ebony rolled her eyes and stood up. She headed for Jay's doors.

"Where are you going?" Jay asked when Ebony opened his bedroom door.

"Home." Ebony replied not looking back at him. As she walked around the corner her body collided with someone else's.

"Ebony!" Jay shouted coming after her.

"Gross." Amber said pushing Ebony back away from her. "Don't you know how to watch where you're going?"

"Don't you know how to leave someone else's boyfriend alone?" Ebony asked looking up at Amber.

"Oh good Jay there you are. My parents and I just got here." Amber said acting as though she hadn't heard Ebony. "I went to look at UCLA while you were gone, I want to show you the pictures." She said holding up an envelope.

Ebony rolled her eyes and continued to walk down the hall. She didn't want to hear Amber flirt with her boyfriend.

"Maybe later." Jay said before running after Ebony. "Will you stop?" he asked as he ran up behind her.

"No." Ebony replied.

"Ebony, stop acting like you're ten. You can't always run away from an argument with me." Jay said grabbing her arm at the top of the stairs. He wasn't going to let her walk away from him that easily.

"This isn't something that I want to fight with you about." Ebony replied looking up into his eyes.

"I don't want to fight with you, I just want to understand why you were with him." Jay said looking down at her.

Ebony sighed and warped her arms around Jay's waist and rested her head on his chest. "It honestly wasn't something I planned. I went to a party with Lex and Jack. Jacob was there, and before I knew it the cops were too."

"Okay." Jay replied holding Ebony tighter to him.

"It was just a really dumb mistake." Ebony said looking up at him.

"I believe you. I will always believe you." Jay replied with a smile.

"God could you two be anymore sickening?" Amber said annoyed.


	5. Chapter 5

"I really screwed it up." Mackenzie sighed as she sat back on Tai-san's couch.

"So wait he just showed up at your house?" Tai-san asked.

"Yeah, right before KC got there. And then we saw him at the diner." Mackenzie told her.

"And you let KC walk away from you?" Lex asked.

"He was pissed, what did you want me to do? Jump on him and tell him that Ved means nothing?" Mackenzie snapped.

"Does Ved mean nothing?" Tai-san asked.

"Yes, no, I don't know what Ved means." Mackenzie sighed again. "If you and Lex broke up do you think Lex would mean nothing to you three months later?"

"Lex and I have been together longer than you two." Tai-san said softly. "Why don't you just wait awhile, let KC to cool off and then go over to his house and talk to him."

"And if he doesn't want to talk to me?" Mackenzie asked.

"Then you keep trying. If you really like KC you can't give up on him." Tai-san smiled.

"And what do I do about Ved?" Mackenzie sniffed. She was trying to hold back the tears.

"You should talk to Cloe about him. She knows him better in that area." Tai-san sighed. "But do you really even need to do anything about Ved? I mean you two were over before he left."

"I know." Mackenzie said looking down and then back up at her, hoping she would catch on.

"I think you should figure out who you want before you talk to either of them." Lex sighed standing up. "But honestly, you know that if you want good advice you need to just go and talk to your sister."

"Lex!" Tai-san shouted throwing a pillow at him as he walked into the kitchen.

"What, it's true. These two have been fighting for longer than I can remember." Lex sighed with his head stuck in the fridge.

"He's right." Mackenzie said standing up. "But if she wasn't such a bitch all the time then maybe we would still be talking."

"Mac." Tai-san said rolling her eyes. "You don't know everything about your sister, you need to remember that."

"And she doesn't know everything about everything. She is so rude to my mom, Jacob, just about everyone in my family." Mac said grabbing her jacket and heading for the door. "Thanks for talking to me Tai, I think I'm just gonna head home."

"Alright, if you need anything else you know where we are." Tai-san smiled as she watched her friend leave.

* * *

><p>Ebony sat in the living room with Ram, his parents, Amber, her parents and Ved. She could barely make out the faint sounds of voices. But she knew what was being said. Jay had told his mother that he wasn't going to UCLA, that he wanted to go somewhere in state, and that's what set the whole thing off.<p>

"I don't know what would have made Jay change his mind about UCLA. He has always wanted to go there." Amber said sitting up straight.

Ved and Ebony both sighed in unison. Even though they hadn't spoken a word to each other since he showed up at the house, they were right on cue. Ebony could feel Amber look at her and then whisper something to Ram's parents.

"Now Amber, why don't we just ask Ebony?" Ram's mother Dee said. "Ebony dear, why doesn't Jay want to go to UCLA? If it's always been his dream what is stopping him?" she asked.

"To be honest, he doesn't want to leave me behind." Ebony said standing up. She didn't want to listen to this anymore. She had heard it all through dinner, and she didn't want to take it anymore. "I didn't ask him not to go, and it hasn't always been his dream." She said walking towards in door. She stuck her hand in her jean pocket and pulled out her keys. "His dream was to go to clown school when we were five, then when we were six he wanted to be an ice skater, again at seven his dream was to go to Yale, Harvard, and Princeton, all at the same time. His dream now, I don't know, I guess you would have to ask Amber, since she seems to know everything about my boy friend." She told them before turning around and walking out of the living room.

Ved walked out after Ebony, he stood behind her in the hallway by the kitchen. "You gonna go in there?" he whispered in her ear.

Ebony turned around and looked at him. "Yes." she snapped before pushing through the swinging kitchen door.

The yelling in the kitchen went on, even with Ebony standing there. Jay looked red in the face, and his mother wore a stern face, neither side looked like they were near backing down. Jay's father was the only one that noticed Ebony come into the kitchen.

"Hello dear." He said with a jolly smile. "Try not to pay any attention to them." He said pointing over at Jay and his wife.

"I just wanted to let someone know that I was leaving." Ebony said looking at Jay, and then up at his father.

"I hope you're not leaving because of this little argument." He said with a look of disappointment.

"It's not the yelling, it's what they are yelling about." Ebony replied with a smile, she was always polite to Jay's father.

"Oh no, you can hear this in the other room?" he asked with a look of embarrassment.

Ebony tried not to laugh, I didn't seen how he couldn't tell that we could hear it anywhere in the house. "Most of it."

He stood there looking at Ebony for a second before he turned back to his wife and son. "This conversation is over now!" he said in a normal stern voice.

The tone in his voice made shivers run up Ebony's spine. She had never heard anything so serious before. She watched as Jay came back to reality and saw that she was in the room. He walked over to his and Ebony smiled when he put his arm around her.

"We have guests, that can hear what is going on in here, and I will not be embarrassed by you two over something silly." Richard said, he sounded more like himself that time. "Now we must get back to our guests." He said taking his wife's hand and leading her out of the kitchen.

Jay looked down at Ebony as Ved came into the kitchen. "What's wrong, your checks are all red."

"She got into a fight with your other girlfriend." Ved said from the fridge.

Neither of them seemed to acknowledge what he had said.

"I couldn't take anymore Amber." Ebony replied. She was glad to be standing in a room without Amber in it. Or at lest she was glad for a second because as soon as she thought that Amber and Ram walked into the kitchen.

"Our parents wanted adult time." Ram said pushing himself up onto one of the counters.

"Oh Ebony you're still here, I was sure you left after you insulted me in the living room." Amber said trying to act surprised.

"Why would she be leaving Amber, Ebony is spending the night." Jay said pulling Ebony closer to him.

Ebony couldn't help but smile while she watched Amber try and think up of a come back. Her whole face turned red.

"Well I guess she'll want to spend time with you now, since we'll be on the other side of the country in a few weeks." Amber said after a delay.

Jay sighed with frustration. "You need to get this through your thick skull, I am not going to UCLA with you."

"Jay, we are not the type of people that go to state colleges, we were born with our names down at schools like Brown, and Yale, and now UCLA is starting to become one of those schools." Amber said looking at him.

"Yeah, come on man, you can't turn down that football scholarship and everything. I mean their coach flew all the way out here to see you play." Ram said.

That's when it clicked with Ebony. The coach flew out, his mother was overly upset, planning. Jay had wanted to go, or at lest he had planned on going. She stood their blinking while all the information went through her head. She turned around and looked up at Jay. "I have to feed my fish." She said pushing away from him.

Amber started to laugh and Ved stopped with he was doing and watched Ebony with a look of confusion.

"You have a fish? Since when?" Jay asked grabbing her at the elbows to pull her against his body.

Ebony put her arms around his neck and kissed him. "It was a long month." She said trying to act normal.

"Call Cloe, she can do it." Jay said with a lazy smile.

"The smell of the fish food makes her sick." Ebony said trying to come up with an excuse that would make sense.

"Okay I'll come with you." Jay said taking a step towards the door.

"No. You stay, I'll go, it shouldn't take long." She said stopping him. She kissed his quickly. "Ram it's been a pleasure." She said before rushing out of the kitchen.

"That girl is weird." Amber said rolling her eyes.

"Shut up." Ram said looking over at Amber. She was getting on his last nerve.

"You just got lied to." Ved said closing the fridge door, laughing at his own brother's stupidity.

"Excuse me?" Jay asked looking at his brother.

"Ebony hates fish, almost as much as she hates Amber." Ved said rolling his eyes at his brother.

"Yeah, eating fish." Ram laughed. "I remember when we went to that place down town and she threw up before we even got close to the place."

"Pet fish you dip shit. They remind her of her brother, he use to have a bunch of beta's and she can't stand to even look at fish now." Ved said annoyed. He couldn't believe that Jay didn't even think of that.

"Shit." Was all Jay could think of to say.

Just then the door bell rang throughout the house.


	6. Chapter 6

Wow, so I might have forgotten about this. I'm a busy girl with other things in mind, and other stories that get way more attention now. And because I wrote this a life time ago, back on eyeboards (did I just date myself?) I am sorry that parts of it are crap. I was young when I started watching the show, and still young when I started to write. But I've had a few years to grow, and I hope I've become better. Sometimes I'm not so sure. So without further a due, because seriously who reads what the author says, some more of my lovely thoughts...

* * *

><p>Mackenzie slowly walked down the hall. She didn't know what she was going to do, but this was where she ended up. She just had to do something. She didn't know what, but she knew she had to do it fast.<p>

"Hey you." Cloe said when Mackenzie walked into her room. She was surprised to see her here, she hasn't been inside the house since her fight with Ebony back in the fall.

"I need to talk to you." Mackenzie said sitting down on the edge of Cloe's bed.

Cloe sat in an over sized chair and Ebony's mom had bought for her after she first moved in. "Is everything alright?" she asked.

"Ved's back." Mackenzie said not looking at Cloe.

"Yeah I know, Ebony is over there right now." Cloe replied. She didn't see where the problem was.

"I don't know what to do. I mean KC saw him and flipped out, and Ved, he looked so hurt. I didn't go after KC, I just stood there." Mackenzie said falling back onto the bed.

"Oh." Cloe said. "I don't know what happened with you two, but I know that he really loves you. And I mean loves you in a way that he never loved me, or anyone else."

"He broke up with me because of what happened with Ebony." Mackenzie said emotionless. "He didn't even bother to explain it. We just got into this big fight after graduation, he told me that he didn't want to deal with the way I was treating Ebony and marched off, the next day he was gone."

"That isn't his entire fault." Cloe said.

"Well it's not my fault. My relationship with Ebony shouldn't have had an effect on my relationship with Ved. He cares more about her, than he does me." Mackenzie said to herself.

"There is a lot that you don't know about Ebony. Can you imagine how hard it was for him to be in the middle of you two? He's her best friend, on a different level than any of us." Cloe said rubbing where the baby had just kicked her. "You need to figure out if you want to be with Ved or not. That's what matters here."

Mackenzie stood up and looked down at Cloe. "I'm sick of people telling me I don't know my own sister. Its like she's got some big secret." Mackenzie was mad. "Thanks Cloe." She said before walking out of the room. As she was going down the stairs her cell phone started to vibrate. She picked it up without looking at the number. "Hello?" she asked.

"Why would KC want to kill Ved?" the other voice said. It took a minute before Mackenzie realized that it was Jay.

"What?" Mackenzie asked, she thought that she hadn't heard him right.

"KC is trying to kill my brother, and I want to know if he deserves it before I stop it." Jay said.

"Shit." Mackenzie said before hanging up.

KC had pushed Ved up against a tree and was blindly throwing punches at him.

Mackenzie ran from her car, unsure of what type of mess she was going to find. She was shocked that Jay, Ram and Amber were all standing outside watching what was happening. KC had a bloody nose, a cut on his fore head and his clothes were torn and dirty. She couldn't tell with Ved, but she was sure that he was fine, he had always been more of a fighter than KC. She pushed past Jay and Ram and ran over to where KC and Ved where.

* * *

><p>"You f****** little ****." Ved screamed at KC. He was bringing his arm up to hit him again when he was grabbed from behind.<p>

Mackenzie grabbed Ved's arm and pulled him back a few feet before going forward to KC.

Ved stumbled as Mackenzie pulled him back and fell towards the ground when she let go of him. But Jay came from behind and helped him back up to his feet.

"Are you okay?" Mackenzie asked touching the side of KC's face. When he nodded his head she turned around and looked at Ved, he looked a lot worse that she thought he would.

Ved could taste the blood in his mouth, he spit it out and looked back up at Mackenzie. His stomach hurt from where he had gotten kicked, and he was sure that he had a black eye.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Mackenzie asked looking at Ved. She was upset, confused, and mad, and she knew it was something.

"He came over here." Ved said shaking his head. He was surprised that she was so upset with him. He had only gotten about five good punches in.

"I'll drive you home." Mackenzie said picking up KC's car keys off the ground. She looked at Ved with disappointment before walking to KC's car.

"You aren't even in the country for 24 hours and you're already causing problems. That's the way to be." Ram said putting his hand out for a hi-five. "So what'd you do? Bang her?"

Ved looked up at Ram. In most cases he lied, but he had more respect for Mackenzie than that, and more respect for the relationship they once had. "Shut up." He turned from the three of them standing outside the house and walked towards the front door. All he wanted was to shower and ice.

* * *

><p>Jay left his house after Mackenzie showed up and stopped the fight. He had to find Ebony and talk to her, tell her what had happened. He went to her house, but she wasn't there, and she wasn't picking up her cell phone. He sat down by the front door to her house and waited. He knew that she would come back here, before she ever went back to his house, and he was right.<p>

Ebony pulled into her driveway, and parked her mom's car back where it had originally been the first time she had left the house. She looked in the rear view mirror at Jay's car, she knew he was waiting for her.

"Hey." Jay said as she got closer. He stood up on the step and watched her.

"What are you doing here?" She asked squinting, the sun was bright.

"I know why you took off, and I know you lied about having a fish." Jay replied stepping down from the step. He stood about two feet away from her. "You don't have to lie to me, even if you just need to step out to think about something, you shouldn't lie."

"I'm sorry." Ebony said looking down at her feet. "It wasn't that good of a lie either."

"No it was good, I didn't catch it, Ved did. I'm sorry I didn't catch it." Jay said looking up at the sky then back at her. "Look I want to talk to you about this whole UCLA thing."

"What is there to talk about? I mean you're going. I'm happy that you got in, and that you're going. I just wish that you would have been a little more honest with your girlfriend." Ebony said sitting down on the step Jay had just been sitting on.

"I'm not going." Jay said sitting back down next to her.

"Jay, it's where you want to go. I was so blind, I don't know how I didn't see it before." Ebony sighed. "Amber was going, that should have been clue enough."

"When I left I wanted to go to UCLA, but now, after being away from you, I know that I don't want to do that. I can't do that." Jay said taking both of her hands.

Ebony pulled her hands away from him and warped them around his neck. She just wanted to hug him right now. "I don't want to talk about this now. You've been back for a few hours, I just want to be with you right now."

* * *

><p>Ved stood in his room with a pair of shorts on. He looked in the mirror at the bruises on his sides, from where KC had kicked him. They were starting to turn blue. He sighed and when he turned around he saw Mackenzie standing in his door way. "What?" he asked.<p>

"You should go to the hospital." She said pointing at his stomach.

"It doesn't hurt much." Ved replied reaching of a shirt on this desk chair. "What are you doing here?" he asked after he put the shirt on.

"I came to yell at you." Mackenzie said softly. She didn't have it in her now, not when she could see how beaten up he really was.

"Well get it over with then." Ved said nonchalant.

Mackenzie walked over to him. She reached her hand up to touch one of the cuts on the side of his face, but he stopped her and stepped back.

"Don't try and pull this act on me. I don't want to deal with you." Ved said stepping away from her. He was annoyed that she came in here and tried to act like she cared.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Mackenzie asked sharply. "I'm trying to be nice here."

"No you're trying to act like you still care." Ved shouted back at her.

Mackenzie looked at him for a moment before she replied. "Do you think it's easy for me to stand here and look at you like this?" she shouted.

"Well you sure as hell make it look easy." Ved replied.

"You are the one that broke up with me remember, you left me here without a word, you left me with nothing but a broken heart. So don't tell me that it's easy for me. I've been trying to put myself back together, and right when I start to do that you show up, and act like you were never away, like nothing even happened before you left." Mackenzie yelled nearly in tears.

"Oh but it was easy for me to see you out on that date with KC, to know that you moved on so quickly." Ved laughed throwing his towel off his bed.

"Moved on?" Mackenzie asked stepping closer to him. "I wish that I had moved on. I wish that I could do something without thinking about you, or kiss someone without wishing it was you." She screamed at him. "I hate you so much!"

Ved could feel her breath while she yelled at him. But he couldn't hear what she was saying. All he could think about was her lips and how perfect she looked at that moment. As soon as she stopped yelling at him he put his hand behind her neck and pulled her over to him and kissed her. He had been longing to do that since before he left.

Mackenzie dropped her keys to the floor as she stood there kissing Ved. She heard them hit softly as she felt Ved's hand run up her back. She had lost all sensible thought. All she knew was that it felt so right to be kissing him.

Ved stepped backwards taking Mackenzie with him and not breaking the kiss. Then he fell softly back to the bed, still not breaking the kiss. He didn't want to stop, he couldn't stop, and he knew that she couldn't stop either. Her hands on the back of his head seemed to make all the pains from his side go away. He felt himself slightly flinch when her hand ran over his side, as she took his shirt off. They stopped kissing as she pulled the shirt off over his head, and looked at each other.

Mackenzie let Ved's shirt fall off the side of the bed as she laid on top of him staring into his eyes. She knew that if she wanted to walk away from him now would be the time to do it. She thought that for a moment she should, but when his hands started to pull her shirt off as well she knew that she didn't want to.

Ved rolled over to be on top of her, he smiled down at her before kissing her again. He could feel with his feet that she was trying to get her heels off, and he helped. As they laid in bed making out it seemed to become more and more intense. When Ved felt Mackenzie's hand reach his shorts he pulled away and looked down at her. Her perfectly straight hair was a mess, her mouth was red, but he could see it in her eyes. "Are you sure?" he whispered.

"I'm sure." Mackenzie replied.

* * *

><p>Cloe stood in the kitchen drying the dishes she had just washed.<p>

"Hello dear." Hazel, Ebony's mother said coming into the kitchen

"Hi." Cloe said with a bright smile.

"You know we have a maid that does all that right?" Hazel said looking at what Cloe was going.

"I know, I'm just nesting." Cloe replied.

"Well you're pregnant." Hazel laughed. "Do you know where my daughter is?"

"Jay got back today, so I believe she is over at his house." Cloe said sitting down on one of the bar stools.

"I'm worried about her, she's been acting differently these last few weeks, ever since that party." Hazel sighed loudly.

"I've noticed that too, she hasn't said anything to me though." Cloe said trying to reassure her that everything was okay.

"I just worry about her. But I hope that she will see how wrong Jay is for her. Leaving like that, I can't believe it." Hazel went on quickly trying to push her worried aside.

"I think she loves him, more than we know. More than she wants us to know." Cloe said. She had learned a lot more about Ebony in the last seven months, and part of her wondered if she knew more about her than her own sisters knew.

"Well either way." replied Hazel, tossing her hands up slightly. "I don't want to talk about her anymore, how are you doing?"

"I'm good, we saved five hundred dollars last month, so I think things are going really well." Cloe said with a smile. She was happy that they had saved so much in the last few months.

"Dear you shouldn't be worrying about things like that. I'm having a decorator come in tomorrow and set up the nursery, so I hope you will be around." Hazel said folding the damp towel Cloe had been using to dry the dishes. "I want you to pick out the paint color, and help me get all the furniture ordered."

"I really appreciate all that help, but Jack and I can't afford anything really nice." Cloe told her. "The money we're saving is going to go towards rent, and food and other baby supplies."

"Cloe, you should know by now that the money you are making is for you and Jack to start saving for your wedding, or a house. As long as you are in my house I will be taking care of you, and the baby. I owe you that much." She said as a serious look came over her.

"You don't owe me anything, I owe you." Cloe said not understanding what she was talking about.

"Ever since you came to live with us, you've had an effect on this family. My husband and I don't fight as much, Ebony speaks to me, and you are bringing joy to this house hold. Having you here has been a pleasure, and I want to treat you just like you were one of my daughters." Hazel told her. Cloe really had changed the way Ebony was acting as home, and for that she was more grateful than anything. "Plus I haven't been able to spoil a baby since Ebony, so I am enjoying doing all this as well."

"Thank you so much." Cloe said getting up and hugging her. This really took a great deal of stress off her.

Cloe laying in her bed staring that the phone. She was debating on calling Jack and filling him in on what Hazel was going to do for them. She reached over and picked up the phone, dialing the number without looking.

"Speak." Jack's voice came after a few short rings.

"Hey." Cloe said softly.

"Hey babe, everything alright?" Jack asked.

Cloe could tell that he was in the middle of doing something, he sounded far away and distracted. "I'm fine. How are you?"

"I'm good." Jack replied.

"I talked to Hazel tonight." Cloe said wondering if he was really listening to anything she was saying.

"That's nice." Jack said.

"She's going to help us out some more." Cloe said looking at the picture that was next to the phone. It was of her and Jack, before she started to show just how pregnant she was.

"Okay." Came Jack's reply.

"Are you listening to me?" Cloe asked.

"That sounds great hon." He replied.

"I'm also giving up the baby for adoption, and running off with my old tennis instructor. Hope you don't mind." Cloe said with a sigh.

"Sounds like fun." Jack replied.

"Great." Cloe said before hanging up. She knew that things with them weren't going well, but she didn't know how to deal with it. Jack's parents had insisted that he lived at home until he graduated, and that didn't seem to be a problem until, well she wasn't sure when things had started to change. But she knew that if they didn't start changing back things with them weren't going to last long.


	7. Chapter 7

Ebony woke up smiling, she couldn't remember how long it had been since she had done that. Jay was still asleep next to her. She laid next to him for a moment, watching his slow breathing, before softly making her way out of bed, so she didn't wake him. She tip toed from one side of the room towards the bathroom. As she pushed open the door she looked behind her to make sure that Jay was still asleep. When she turned around and looked in the bathroom she froze, her happy morning could quickly turn into a nightmare.

Mackenzie stood in the bathroom wearing a pair of Ved's boxers and a cami. She had a tooth brush in her mouth and her hair was pulled back, make up smudged on her face. She looked just as surprised to see her sister.

Ebony came in the room and closed the door softly. "What are you doing?" she asked folding her arms in front of her chest, she suddenly felt naked. She was wearing one of Jay's button up shirts and just her underwear, but she still felt as though is she wasn't wearing anything.

Mackenzie spit the tooth paste from her mouth and turned to face Ebony. "Brushing my teeth." She replied in a snotty tone.

"At six in the morning, with my boyfriends tooth brush none the less." Ebony said raising an eyebrow.

"What are you doing here at six in the morning?" Mackenzie asked putting down the tooth brush.

"My boyfriend lives here, last time I checked this wasn't KC's house." Ebony said, she was starting to become relaxed, this was her territory.

"How did you know I was seeing KC?" Mackenzie asked. This had been the most she had talked to Ebony since Jacob showed up.

"Just because we aren't speaking doesn't mean my friends don't talk to me." Ebony replied.

"What I do is none of your business." Mackenzie said turning back towards the sink.

"You're right, its not. Enjoy screwing up your own life." Ebony said before turning and walking back out of the bathroom.

Mackenzie sighed when the door shut. Her sister knew nothing about anything. She shut off the water and went out the other door that led into Ved's room.

Ebony walked around Jay's room quietly. She was mad at the fact that Mackenzie was here this early, and she knew what it meant that she was here. When she reached Jay's closet she opened the door. Sitting off to the side was Jay's luggage. The four blue box shapes still had the tags from the airplane on them. Ebony reached for a pair of sweats that were above them. When she went to put them on she noticed the side of them said UCLA. She folded them back up and sat them on top of his dresser and went back over to the bed.

Jay felt Ebony crawl back into bed with him. "Mmm." He said putting his arms around her.

"You're brother slept with my sister." Ebony said wrapping her legs around Jay's.

Jay's eyes opened and he sat up a little. He wasn't sure that he had heard what she said. "What?" he asked.

"She's in the other room wearing a pair of his boxers. Her car was outside when we got here last night." Ebony said pulling herself closer to Jay. "And you need a new toothbrush."

"I thought you told me she was seeing that KC kid." Jay asked scouting up a little. Ebony's head was resting on his chest, her breath was warm on his bare chest.

"She slept with Ved." Ebony said more to herself than to anyone else. She couldn't believe that her sister had thrown away something that she cherished so much. Ebony remembered talking to Mackenzie after she lost her virginity, and Mackenzie had told her that she wanted to wait until she was married, she had always wanted to wait.

"You want me to kick his ass?" Jay asked rubbing her back.

"There's no changing what happened." Ebony sighed.

"You know I have to tell you, you look pretty good in my shirts." He smiled down at her.

Ebony couldn't help but laugh. She had gone through a stage where she started to listen to country music and one of the songs were called 'You Look Good In My Shirt', and the fact that Jay remembered made her smile. "God, I love you."

Jay kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes. Waking up with her was perfect, being with her was perfect, everything about her was perfect.

Mackenzie looked down at him, he was fast asleep tangled in his black sheets. She picked up her heels and started to look around for her skirt. It was between the bed and frame. When she got it out she slipped it on over Ved's boxers. She slipped the boxers off and kicked them over to the pile of dirty clothes. She started to look around for her keys. She hadn't seen them since she dropped them the night before.

"I moved them last night." Ved moaned from the bed. His eyes were still closed.

Mackenzie stood up straight and looked at him. "I need them." She replied walking towards the bed. She pulled the comforter off the bed and off Ved.

Ved pulled the blanket back up, the air in the room was cold on his mostly naked body. He had a smile playing in the corners of his mouth while he watched Mackenzie.

"Ved, I'm serious. I need to go." Mackenzie said looking around.

As Ved rubbed his eyes he sat up in bed. This wasn't the way he had thought the morning after would go, at lest not with them. "This is seriously how you're going to leave?" he asked.

"Not if I can't find my keys." Mackenzie said annoyed. It wasn't funny anymore.

Ved leaned over to his night stand and pulled out the keys. He sat with them in his hand looking up at her.

"Thank you." Mackenzie said reaching down for them.

"You know, I never though that you would be the girl to walk away from a guy, especially after having sex with him." Ved said letting her take the keys. He didn't want to fight with her. He didn't even know what to say to her, or what they were now.

"Don't start with me Ved." Mackenzie snapped. "You could have warned me that Ebony was going to be here." She said in a whisper.

"How was I suppose to know that she was going to be here. I mean I could have guessed, you should have guessed yourself." Ved snapped back. He got out of bed and pulled a shirt on. "Ebony has every right to be here, maybe even more right than you do."

Mackenzie was hurt, but she knew where it was coming from. "Fine, if you want your perfect little Ebony, you can have her. God I don't even know why I came here last night. You have never been wroth my time."

"You know, maybe if you saw that the world didn't revolve around you, you would see that something else was going on." Ved shouted at her. She was always trying to make Ebony out to be the bad guy, even though Ebony hadn't done anything wrong.

"You are always, always defending her. You don't even know what she's done to my family!" Mackenzie said with tears forming in her eyes.

"I'm not defending her, I'm telling it like it is Mackenzie. I don't need to see what she's done to your family, because I know what you're family has done to her!" Ved said in a harsh voice. "God, you don't even get it. Just once, for just a second, I wish you would grow up and ask her, ask her what happened."

"Why don't you just tell me? You seem to know so much about it, and care so much for her, you might as well just tell me!" Mackenzie yelled.

"She's been through more than you know Mac, and it's not my place to be telling you her secrets." Ved sighed. He couldn't do it, he wanted to tell her everything, he wanted her to know about the hospital, the phone call, the night. But he couldn't tell her any of it. "Jacob did a number on her."

"What does Jacob have to do with Ebony?" Mackenzie asked turning her whole body towards Ved's.

Ved started to laugh. He couldn't help it. the girl he had been in love with and him had finally slept together, the sex part didn't matter, they had slept in the same bed together for a whole night, and now they were back to fighting over something that didn't have anything to do with them. The same thing that broken them up.

Mackenzie just kept looking at him waiting for an answer.

"Now I remember why we broke up to start with." he said looking at her, still laughing.

"You think this is funny?" Mackenzie asked with tears forming in her eyes.

"You don't get it do you?" Ved asked. He had stopped laughing, he felt a cough forming. "We've just spent the whole night together, you and me, and here we are, not talking about what happened, but fighting about something that doesn't have anything to do with our relationship." He coughed into his hand and looked at it when he felt something sticky and warm.

Mackenzie looked at the wall thinking about what Ved had just said. It was true, they were fighting over something that didn't really have to do with them as a couple. And she knew why. "I can't deal with this." She said looking back at him.

Ved wiped the blood from his mouth and looked up at Mackenzie. "Guess I should have listened to you last night." He said before he coughed again, with more blood.

Mackenzie stood up and ran towards the bathroom, she threw open the door and went straight through into Jay's room. "Ved's coughing up blood." She said turning the light on.

Jay moaned and put his hands up to block out the light. He wasn't sure what was going on.

"Get up!" Mackenzie shouted.

Jay sat up in bed and looked up at Mackenzie. He knew something wasn't okay as soon as he saw the look of panic on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked getting out of bed.

Ebony stretched out and kicked the sheets off of her. "What are you freaking out over?" she asked from the bed.

"Ved's coughing up blood!" Mackenzie said looking at Jay. She wasn't sure what to do.

Ebony shot up out of the bed and ran out of the room, while Jay put on clothes. Ved was still sitting on the bed when Ebony got in there, she saw pain in his face. "Oh my god." She said kneeling down in front of him. "Can you walk?" she asked pulling up his shirt to look at his sides.

"Go find some sweats, Mackenzie start the car." Jay ordered coming into the room. He went over and helped Ved to his feet, but his brothers face filled with even more pain when he stood. Jay picked him up without thinking about it and walked towards the door with Ebony behind him.

"You're going to be fine." Ebony said reaching up and touching Ved's face as Jay carried him down the stairs. "I'll find your parents and meet you at the hospital."

"Call them from the car." Ved coughed.

Ebony stood with her arms around Jay's waist. She had managed to find a pair of Jay's sweats on his floor and she was still wearing one of his button up shirts. She had tied her braids up in a knot.

Jay kissed the top of Ebony's head. There was blood on his shirt from Ved, but it didn't bother him. He was too worried to let it bother him. He looked over at his parents, they were sitting a few feet away from them. The doctors had come out a few hours ago and told them that Ved had some internal bleeding, and they had to go in to fix it.

Mackenzie was standing with a paper cup of coffee in her hands. She was wearing her skirt and a tank top from the day before, barefoot and scared, she looked straight down the hallway, waiting, that was all anyone could do.

"You should go talk to her." Jay whispered to Ebony.

Ebony looked over at Mackenzie and up at Jay. "You're kidding right, she's the reason we're here."

"Ebony." Jay sighed looking down at her. "She's not the one that kicked the shit out of my brother, so will you stop being five and go check on her."

Ebony wanted to go talk to her, to hug her, and let her cry on her shoulder. But she didn't know what was stopping her. She looked over at Mackenzie and rested her head back on Jay's chest. "Just give me a minute."

"Well I need to use the bathroom, so now's your chance." Jay said kissing her cheek before walking out of the waiting room.

Ebony sighed and looked around the room. She guessed that she could use a cup of coffee, or something. She walked towards where Mackenzie was standing. "Hey."

Mackenzie looked over at Ebony and back down the hallway. "What?" she asked.

"I wanted a cup of coffee." Ebony replied reaching for a cup.

"You hate plain coffee." Mackenzie said turning to look at her. "What do you want Ebony?"

Ebony put the cup back down and looked up at her sister. "I wanted to make sure you were doing alright."

"What do you think Ebony," Mackenzie said looking at her. "My boy…Ved is in surgery because of something my…KC did."

"I know. I would be freaking out too." Ebony said with a sigh.

"You don't freak out over anything Ebony." Mackenzie in a monotone voice.

"Ved means a lot to me too Mac, you're not the only one here that is scared and worried." Ebony said annoyed. Mackenzie had always acted as though everything happened to her and no one else around her.

"Oh, that's right. I mean you are his perfect Ebony." Mackenzie replied. "You are after all, all he cares about."

"Oh pull the stick out of your butt Mackenzie. Ved is my friend, and always will be." Ebony shot back at her. "You don't see how much he loves you."

"Well he loves me so much that he broke up with me because of you. That sure does scream love." Mackenzie said looking Ebony in the eye.

"He broke up with you, because he was sick of listening to you trash my name." Ebony replied. "He broke up with you, because he was protecting my secret." She said before she walked away from him.

Mackenzie sighed and sank down into a chair. She had to think back to the night they fought, she couldn't even remember what all was being said, but she remembered the end of it.

_"All you do is stick up for her, you don't even care how much she's hurting me, or my family." Mackenzie shouted at Ved. "You don't care about my feelings."_

_"You know that's not true Mac." Ved he told her._

_"She is the worse sister I could have asked for. All she does is cause problems for my mother. And she hates Jacob, I bet she's the reason she didn't show up after Jeremy died." Mackenzie cried._

_"Don't bring Jacob into this." Ved shouted. That was the first time he had gotten really mad through the whole conversation._

_"I will bring whoever I want to into this." Mackenzie snapped. "He is the only guy out there that cares about me anyways."_

_"He's just another low life that doesn't care about who he hurts." Ved snapped._

_"I can't believe you would say that." Mackenzie said._

_"I can't deal with this. I'm getting tired of dealing with you." Ved said looking at her._

_"Well then stop. Stop having anything to do with me." Mackenzie yelled._

_"Fine." Ved said before walking out of the room._

She didn't understand why he was so upset over her bringing Jacob into the conversation. And part of her wondered if she would get the chance to ask him.

"He's gonna be fine." Ebony said sitting down on Tai-san's bed.

"What happened?" Tai-san asked looking at Ebony in the mirror. "I mean he hasn't been back that long, so I don't get how he has already gotten himself into trouble."

Ebony looked up at Tai-san and gave her that knowing look. She didn't see how it wasn't obvious to everyone. "KC kicked the crap out of him."

Tai-san let out a sigh. "I don't get what happened. I mean KC and Mackenzie were making things work, I don't know why he got so upset over Ved being back."

"Because everyone knows that Mac and Ved are going to be those people that work, no matter what. They were meant for each other." Ebony said. "They are like you and Lex."

"Lex and I are different." Tai-san replied. "Mac is too young to have found that person anyways. I mean things change for everyone."

"Even for you?" Ebony asked.

Tai-san didn't say anything. She just turned around and looked at Ebony. "How are things with Jay?"

Ebony sighed and fell back onto the bed. "He's going to UCLA."

"What? Since when?" Tai-san asked sitting down next to where Ebony's head was.

"Since forever. I don't know, he didn't tell me, he doesn't really tell me anything. I'm starting to wonder what else he isn't telling me." Ebony replied looking up at her friend.

"But are you telling him everything?" Tai-san replied.

Ebony sighed and looked at her best friend. She knew that she was keeping things from Jay, but he hadn't only been back so long, and it wasn't worth a fight, not yet at least."You've made your point." Ebony said sitting back up. "I should get back to the hospital."

"Yeah, let Ved know that we'll be by later to check on him." Tai-san said standing up and walking into the other room with Ebony.

"Yeah, and I'll kick the crap out of KC for him." Lex said from the living room.

"Or not." Ebony responded. She turned and looked at Lex. "We don't want to deal with anymore fighting, this whole fight with all of us needs to stop."

"You're the only one that can stop it." Tai-san said from next to Ebony. "You have to talk to your sister."

Ebony sighed and walked towards the door. She knew Tai-san was right, she was the only one with the power to put and end to all of it, but she couldn't. She's be breaking more hearts and pushing Mackenzie even farther from her. The truth was a scary thing. "I'll see you guys later." She said before she walked out of the door.


	8. Chapter 8

Ved jerked awake, the pain in his side was something that he had never felt before, it was sharper than anything he had ever felt. His vision was blurry when he first opened his eyes. But he could make out her face at the end of his bed. She looked stiff but relived.

"Hey sweetie." Ved's mom said leaning down and kissing him on the fore head. "How are you feeling?"

"Like crap." He said looking over at his arm, there was in ivy coming out of it.

"Yeah, well maybe you will learn not to get into fights anymore." Richard said from the other side of the bed. Jay was standing next to him.

"Or at lest not get the crap beat out of you." Jay laughed.

"Yeah." Ved said looking around the room. "What pain killers did they give me?" he asked, his whole side hurt.

"I'm not sure, you want me to find out?" Lilly, his mother asked quickly, she wanted to be helpful.

"Nah, that's okay. I just think I want to rest." Ved replied. "You guys should go back to the house and rest, its still early."

"Yeah, you're right. You need your rest. I'll be back later hon." Ved's mom said kissing the top of his head before walking away from his bed side.

"Yeah I'll stop by sometime this afternoon." Jay laughed before following his dad out the room door.

"Come on dear, he needs his rest." Lilly said to Mackenzie.

"Mom, I want to talk to her first. I'll see you later." Ved said looking at Mackenzie.

A look of frustration came across Lilly's face before she hurried out of the room closing the door behind her.

Mackenzie walked over to the side of Ved's bed. "Hey."

Ved moved over and made room for her to lay down next to him. Once she was in the bed, he took her hands and placed them carefully on his chest. Too much movement cause more pain. He kissed the top of her head when he felt the hot tears through the hospital gown. "I'm okay." He said softly.

"I was just worried." Mackenzie replied. She closed her eyes to try and stop the tears.

"You don't have to worry anymore, I'm fine." Ved said lifting her head to look at him. "I want you to promise me something." He said when she opened her eyes.

"Okay." Mackenzie said looking up at him. His eyes were warm.

"I want you to talk to your sister, I want you two to stop fighting. You guys care so much about each other, I just don't want to stand in the middle anymore." Ved said knowing that this was the only way to save a relationship, to save their relationship.

Mackenzie didn't say anything, she just put her head back down on his chest and laid there with him. After a few moments she spoke. "What are we?" she asked.

"You're a girl and I'm a boy." Ved replied with a laugh, but it was painful, so it was cut short.

"I mean us." Mackenzie said still with her head on his chest. She didn't want to look at him right now. "Is there an us?" she replied. She had done something with him that she thought wouldn't happen this early in her life, she had given him something that she could never get back.

"I want there to be an us, I think there should be an us. But that's mostly up to you." Ved said softly. This conversation hurt him more than the pain in his side.

Mackenzie picked up one of Ved's hands and brought it up to her lips. She kissed the middle of his palm and then folded his fingers in and put it back down on his chest. She closed her eyes and laid there until she fell asleep.

"Well all I can say that is your brother really knows how to make a return." Ram laughed as he spun around his Jay's desk chair.

"Yeah, I don't really know." Jay replied from his bed.

"So what are you gonna do man?" Mega asked turning the TV off.

"Do about what?" Jay asked.

"Don't play dumb. Amber called and told everyone last night that you and Ebony are pretty much over." Ram laughed. "She was overly excited when she left with her parents."

"We didn't break up." Jay said looking at Mega and Ram. "We are fine."

"Yeah, and how does she feel about you going to UCLA? I mean she can't be happy, you've lied to her twice now in the last three months, and for most of them you weren't even in the same time zone as her." Mega said looking at him with his arms folded across his chest.

"Seriously Mega, you need to get over whatever it is you have for my girlfriend. Ebony and I will work it out, when it comes that time. Right now we're just both glad that I'm back here." Jay said standing up. "In fact I need to go over to her house and pick her up."

"Yeah, she's still got you whipped boy." Ram laughed standing up and following Mega out of the room.

"Yeah, and since when is it a problem to be whipped?" Jay asked following them out of his room and down the stairs towards the back door.

"Since the rest of us are single." Ram laughed. He had always found it funny that Jay and Ebony had made things work between them.

"Yeah, but that's only because you're too weird to keep a girl interested." Mega said with his serious look.

"Hey things with Java and I worked." Ram said in his own defense.

"Yeah until she caught you with her sister. Just to remind you, Siva and Java look nothing alike." Jay said hitting him on the back as they walked outside.

"Okay, changing the subject, Mega here has been sneaking off a lot since we got back, and he's been rather chipper I must say." Ram said looking over at Mega.

"What chick are you seeing?" Jay asked.

"Who said I was seeing someone?" Mega asked looking at both the boys before getting into his car. "I'm late. I'll see you guys at the party tonight. Welcome back man." He said before driving off.

"Who's he seeing?" Jay asked looking at Ram.

"Not a clue, maybe we'll find out tonight." Ram said nodding his head.

"Yeah, maybe." Jay said before getting into his father car. He couldn't understand how so much had changed since he had been gone, in reality is wasn't even that long that he was gone, only a month and a half, and for half the time his friends had been with him. So it was hard to see how so much had happened in the few weeks they had all been apart, but he was sure that he would find out everything he had been missing out on at Ram's welcome back party for him

"He's okay right?" Cloe asked looking at Ebony over the bed frame.

"Yeah, he's fine. KC really kicked the shit out of him though." Ebony said standing in the middle of her bed.

"I can't believe KC would do something like that. I mean he's never been a fighter before, he was always about peace, not trying to hurt people." Cloe sighed.

"Yeah, I don't know what happened. I mean I guess he must have really fallen for Mackenzie or something. It couldn't have been easy for him seeing that he was back and Mac not saying a word to him." Ebony said reaching up for her ceiling.

"I don't know, I just I can't believe it." Cloe said looking down at the bed. "You're ruining your bed spread." She said noticing all the marks Ebony was making.

"Ah, I'll get over it." Ebony said right before he jumped up and slapped a picture to her ceiling. "There it's done." She said falling to her bed.

Cloe looked up. Over the last few months Ebony had been collecting pictures of random things and putting them on her ceiling, they had no meaning to her or anyone else she knew, but for some reason she kept doing it. "It looks nice." She said looking back at her friend. She didn't want to lie, but she couldn't tell her the truth.

"Nice, but thanks for the lie." Ebony said shrugging her shoulders.

"You can say you're crazy." Jack said coming into the room. "Hey babe." He said kissing Cloe on the check.

Cloe gave him a small smile and watched as he went over and jumped onto the bed and looked up at her ceiling.

"So how's Ved? Is he gonna live, cause that really would be a shame." Jack said rolling over on his side to look at the girls in the room.

"Yes, he's going to live." Ebony said rolling her eyes. "And try not to be such a jackass for a change."

"I can't, it's in my nature." Jack replied with a smile.

"I've got to get downstairs, your mom's helping me put the baby room together." Cloe said looking at Ebony's alarm clock.

"That's not something the father gets to do?" Jack asked sitting up.

"If the father was around, yeah." Cloe said walking out of the room. She was still mad at him for last night. She knew that he didn't know why, but she didn't feel like explaining it either.

"Did I say something wrong?" Jack asked looking at Ebony.

"You do a lot of stuff wrong kiddo." Ebony said giving him and smile and watching as he walked out of the room. "Children." She said getting up. She was still in Jay's shirt and sweats. She hadn't seen the reason to change out of them, at lest not yet. She reached for her cell phone as it started to vibrate. She frowned when she saw the number, she didn't want to hear from him, at lest not today. "What'?" she asked opening her phone

"I just saw your boyfriend." The other voice said.

"Yeah, try not to sound too excited." Ebony replied.

"I can try, but it's early for me, so I can't help it much." Came her response.

"I'm sure you haven't gone to bed yet." Ebony rolled her eyes. She knew that the person couldn't see her, but she couldn't help it.

"Either way, be there tonight, you're needed."

"I can't make it, I told you that yesterday." Ebony said annoyed. "I don't want to be able to make it anymore."

"You couldn't stop coming to see me even if you tried." The voice shot back at her.

"I've got plans." Ebony said simply. "Can't break them, sorry."

"Oh you'll find a way. Look I'll see you later. I've got stuff I've got to take care of." The person said before hanging up.

"I've got stuff I've got to take care of." Ebony said in a mocking tone. "You always have stuff to take care of." She sighed throwing her phone on her bed. She laid down and looked up at her ceiling, what was she doing? Jay was back, that was all that should have mattered now. But for some reason, she knew, she knew what was going to happen. When he was involved she always knew what was going to happen.

Mackenzie stood in the door way of Ved's hospital room. She watched as him and all of his other visitors laughing and joking. She had gone home to shower and change her clothes a few hours after Ved woke up.

"Hey." Ved said when he saw Mackenzie.

Mackenzie smiled at him and everyone else in the room. She walked over to the bed when Ved motioned for her to sit down on the bed next to him. She sat with her back mostly to Ved and her legs over the edge.

"You okay?" Ved whispered as soon as the conversation started up again.

Mackenzie nodded her head and looked over at him and then over at her sister. She sat there for awhile while everyone kept talking.

"You wouldn't believe how insane it was man. I mean it was off the hook, like Tom Green off the hook." Jesse said acting like Tom Green in Grind.

"Yeah, we get it Jess, off the hook." Ebony said throwing an empty cup at him.

"Hey, chill out girl." Jesse said throwing it back at her and laughing.

"Well I'm glad to hear that nothing to exciting happened while I was gone." Ved said putting his hand on Mackenzie back. "I take that back." He said under his breath.

"You know, when you get out of here, we'll have a huge party at the Skate Park for you, a get better, and a welcome back." Tai-san said with a smile. "As for now, I've got to go. I've got an appointment."

"Alright, I'll see you later boy." Lex said standing up as well.

"No you stay, have fun. I'll see you back at the apartment." Tai-san said kissing Lex before leaving the room.

"Appointment?" Ved asked looking at Ebony and Lex.

"She's had a lot of those lately." Bray said.

"Yeah, I know." Lex said, you could tell that he was hurt.

"It's nothing, I promise." Ebony said lying. She wasn't sure what was going on with her friend, but then again, Tai-san didn't know what was going on with her.

"I've got to get to work though, it was good seeing you man, I hope next time it's not in a hospital bed." Bray said giving Ved a huge and heading for the door.

"Hey, man, can I get a ride?" Jesse asked running out after him.

"I swear that kid only gets weirder with time." Ved laughed softly. It still hurt to laugh and take to deep of breaths.

"I've got to pee." Ebony said jumping up and out of her seat. "Don't let the fun happen without me."

"I'm gonna go get something to drink, you want anything?" Mackenzie asked looking over at Ved.

"I'm good." Ved said as he watched her walk out of the room.

"Ebony." Mackenzie said walking faster to catch up to her.

Ebony spun around and looked at Mackenzie. She was surprised that she was coming after her, or even speaking to her. "Yeah." She asked with a smile. She knew she had to be nice.

"I need to talk to you." Mackenzie said with a sigh. She didn't want to, but she knew that it would mean a lot to Ved.

"Okay, what's up?" Ebony asked as they started to walk down the hallway towards the bathrooms and vending machines.

"What happened with you and Jacob?" Mackenzie asked. She didn't want to sugar coat anything, she just wanted to get to the point.

Ebony stopped suddenly and looked at her sister. "Who told you?" she asked as her throat started to tighten up. This was the last conversation she wanted to have.

"So something did happen." Mackenzie said unsure of what was to come.

"Who said something to you?" Ebony asked again.

"Ved mentioned something to me. Why would Ved know something about you that I don't?" Mackenzie said crossing her arms on front of her chest.

"What did he tell you?" Ebony asked. She needed to know what had been said.

"Nothing, that's why I'm asking you." Mackenzie said. She was starting to get annoyed. "I want to know what lies your spreading around about my brother."

Ebony let out a laugh of anger. "Lies, what did Jacob tell you I lied?"

"Jacob didn't tell me anything." Mackenzie shot back at her. "He doesn't talk trash about people behind their backs. He has more respect for people than you do."

"You live in this little fantasy world Mackenzie." Ebony said looking at her. "Jacob is not who you think he is, and you're so naive for thinking that he is some great guy."

"You don't know anything about him!" Mackenzie shot back.

"You know what, I'm tired of protecting you." Ebony said walking past her sister.

Mackenzie grabbed Ebony's arm and turned her back towards her. "Then stop and tell me what the hell is going on." She shouted. "I don't want you protecting me!"

Ebony pulled her arm away and looked at Mackenzie with disgust. "Okay, you want the truth." Ebony said looking at her. "The truth is, your brother almost killed me and didn't even give a damn. Your perfect little brother let me O.D., and then left me alone, where I was raped and almost died. What makes it even better is your mother had it all covered up, she didn't want to tarnish her perfect little family." Ebony didn't have any tears in her eyes, she was just mad. She hated to think about that stage in her life, she hated thinking about how much she screwed up. "Maybe you don't remember, but when you got back from your little vacation, I wasn't home."

"You…you where back at boarding school." Mackenzie said stunned. That was what her father had told her. That Ebony had gone back to school, and for the longest time she was mad at Ebony for doing that. She couldn't even process what Ebony was telling her.

"That's what they told you, I was in rehab." Ebony told her. "Now go back to your perfect life, with your perfect mother, and brother, and my father." She said before turning around and walking off to the bathroom. She didn't want to look at Mackenzie anymore.

Mackenzie as well turned back around and headed back to Ved's room. There was nothing else she could do, there was nothing she could think about.


	9. Chapter 9

"Hey guys." Jay said walking into Ved's hospital room. Lex, Jack, Cloe and Ram were all sitting in chairs, and Mackenzie was sitting on the bed, staring at her hands. Jay thought for a second that it looked like she was crying.

"Thanks for showing up." Ram said getting up and going over to Jay. "I thought you were gonna be here awhile ago."

"I went by Ebony's. She wasn't there, so I figured she was here." Jay said looking around the room to make sure he hadn't missed her.

"She went to the bathroom, like over an hour ago. We all thought she left." Cloe said getting a little worried. "Did you try her cell?"

"It's off." Jay said looking back at Mackenzie. "I'm gonna go check the bathrooms." He said before leaving the room with Ram right behind him.

"We should get going." Jack said looking over at Cloe. "We'll call and let you guys know if she's back at the house."

"Yeah, I've got some stuff at home I need to do." Lex said getting up as well.

Cloe waddled over to Ved and kissed his check. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Thanks Clo." Ved said with a smile and hugging her. "I'll see you guys later." He said to the boys. The room had suddenly become empty. There was only Mackenzie and him in the room now. "You okay?" he asked rubbing her back. She hadn't said anything since she got back.

Mackenzie turned around and looked at him. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked. She was mad, she had gotten over the shock and the anger had been sitting within her.

"Tell you what?" Ved asked unsure of what she was talking about.

"That Ebony has been telling you guys all kinds of lies!" Mackenzie shouted standing up. "Trashing my brothers name, and my moms!"

"Ebony hasn't been trashing anyone's name. Where is this even coming from?" Ved asked.

"She's got it all twisted in her mind that Jacob tried to kill her. And then she had to nerve to tell me that my mother knew about it." Mackenzie said with her anger boiling over.

Ved sighed. He figured this was what was coming. "He did Mac."

Mackenzie looked at him. She knew that if he was saying this as well it had to be true. He wouldn't lie to her, not about this.

"She called me, the night she over dosed. She was trying to call Jay. She knew that something wasn't right, and she said that Jacob kept giving her stuff to take. By the time I found her she was barely breathing, she was half naked with a needle still stuck in her arm, and Jacob was no where to be found." Ved said as that night went through his head. "I know you don't want to believe it, that's why she never told you, she didn't want you to know that side of your brother."

Mackenzie sat down in the chair at the end of the bed and looked at him. "Oh my god." She said looking him in the eye. "What am I gonna do?"

"Stop hating your sister." Ved said looking at her. "She wanted to tell you, but your guys parents thought that it would be better if the whole thing was kept under wraps. They paid off doctors and everything. This wasn't something that she had much control over."

"I can't, I can't just forgive her for lying to me." Mackenzie said getting up. She went over to his bed and laid down next to him.

Ved stroked her head while she laid there. He hated to see her so upset, but he also knew that there was nothing he could do for her, at lest not now.

Jay stood outside of the closest girl's bathroom for a moment before going in. He hadn't heard any running water, so he thought it safe. "Ebony?" he asked once inside the bathroom. He heard a sniff come from one of the stalls. "Ebbz, is that you?" he asked one more time, even though in his mind he knew it was.

"Go away." Came his response. He looked under the bathroom stall just in time to see her pick up her feet.

Jay knocked on the stall door.

"Seriously, go away." Ebony said. Her nose was so stuffed up that she felt almost like she couldn't breath and her head hurt.

"I can't." Jay said softly. "Cause the most amazing girl in the world has locked herself in a hospital bathroom, and some high school jock is worried about her."

"You're not in high school anymore." Ebony said reaching for the toilet paper to blow her nose with.

"Well some ex high school jock then." Jay said leaning against the wall next to the stall. "Please open the door, you don't have to come out,"

"Why, you can't come in." Ebony replied.

"Cause I can at lest hold you." Jay said softly looking back under the stall and watched as her feet came back down. "It's better to cry on my shirt anyways." He said as he listened to the lock come undone, and the door slowly swung open.

Ebony wiped the tears away from her eyes when she looked up at Jay. "I really want to go home."

Jay pulled Ebony out of the bathroom stall and over to him. He warped his arms around her small body, just like he had done so many times before and held her. Holding her like that was something that he had missed more than anything else. Just having her in his arms felt so right to him, and give him the feeling that he was protecting her from everything. "I'll take you home." He said after a few minutes.

"I can't leave my car here." Ebony sniffed.

"Don't worry about it. Ram can pick me up at your house and I'll I can come back and get my car." Jay told her as the two of them walked out of the bathroom together.

"Everything alright?" Ram asked when he saw the couple.

"Yeah, follow us to Ebony's?" Jay asked the three of them started to walk together towards the elevator.

"Sure thing." Ram said with a smile. "So Ebony I haven't told you this yet." Ram said all of the sudden overly excited. "There is this totally hot country singer."

"Taylor Swift." Ebony replied.

Ram's face dropped a little. "How did you know?" he asked disappointed that his news wasn't really news.

"You saw me at the mall two days ago, and told me." Ebony said trying to give him a smile, but her head hurt to bad to make any sort of facial expression.

"Well then in that case, I'll think of your little black dress when I think of happiness." Ram said playfully.

"Don't be thinking of my girlfriend in any black dress." Jay said looking over at Ram and pushing him away from them a little. The two of them laughed.

Once they were in the elevator Ebony snuggled her body into Jay's as he rested against the wall. It was moments like this she knew she was glad to have him.

Ebony stood looking at herself in the mirror later that night. She was wearing a pair of skinny dark blue jeans, and a black corset that laced in the front. She had a silver star drawn by her eyes. Her lips were the perfect shade of dark red. She had on high heels that made her three inches taller. When she looked in the mirror she couldn't help but take a second look at herself, she had out done herself. She pushed her curled braids back and grabbed her cell phone before she left her room. She quickly headed down the back stairs, knowing that no one would see her.

"I'm going out with Jay, I'll be back later tonight." Ebony shouted before she closed the kitchen door behind her. She knew that her mom would believe that, she would believe almost any lie she told her. She looked at the keys that were in her hand and wondered if her parents had even noticed which car she had been driving.

"We can't do this anymore." Tai-san said gathering her things up.

"You're not one to suddenly grow a conscious." The male replied back.

"We haven't done anything, so don't make is sound like we have." Tai-san replied looking over at him. He had become her dirty little secret.

"That is why I don't understand why you're so worried." He said.

"I'm not worried, I just don't see the point." Tai-san said opening the car door.

"Well then, he must know, that's what it's about." The guy said smoothly, not showing any ounce of emotion.

"Lex doesn't know anything because nothing has happened. Now you have a party to get to, and I have to get home." Tai-san said getting out of the car.

The driver got out as well and looked over the roof of the car at her. "You can't deny what is going on here."

"There is nothing going on." Tai-san said turning around and walking away.

"Tai-san! Don't walk away from me." he shouted as she walked into the Skate Park diner.

Tai-san sighed and sat down in one of the booths. She had to get her thoughts collected and be able to think straight before she went back home to Lex.

"Am I seeing straight?" Bray asked coming over to her.

Tai-san jumped a little at the voice. She hadn't seen him in there when she walked in. "What?" she asked.

"Did I really just see you get out of Mega's car?" Bray asked sitting down on the opposite side of her.

Tai-san could feel her throat start to close up, there was no way she would be able to deny it now, she had been caught, and by Bray none the less.

Ebony sat on the hood on the car waiting. She tried to look like being there wasn't bothering her, but it was. There was still a whole beer in her hand and she knew that the girls standing around her were all wondering what had happened to the Ebony they knew, the one they remembered.

"Smile a little more Bunny, it might make things go faster." the tall, buff guy said walking back towards her.

"Or it just means this is over, I'm done." Ebony said watching as the girls parted for him to come into the circle.

"Oh Bunny, you know you'll never be done with me." He said walking over and getting into the driver seat of the car.

"Get the hell out of my car." Ebony said getting up and looking at him. She had the keys in her hands and wasn't letting them go. She crossed her arms and waited.

He slowly got out of the car. "You know it's been a long time since I've been behind this one." He said running his hand down the side of it as he walked towards her.

"I'm sure it's been along time since you're been behind anything." Ebony replied with attitude in her voice. She didn't want him to know how scared she was of him.

"I see you're smart little mouth is ready for a run." He said stepping even closer to her, he ran his hand down the side of her face, just like he had to the car.

Ebony could feel his breath on her face and she could smell the sweet smell of alcohol. "I'm through with you." She said not moving. It was a power struggle with him, it always had been. But she was able to think with a clear head, that was her advantage.

"You've got to drop me off first." He whispered in her ear.

"Whatever." Ebony said walking towards the driver side of the car. Before she got in she turned and nodded bye to a few of the groups of people that were standing around.

As the two of them drove in silence Ebony's cell phone broke it.

"Wonder who that could be." He said snatching it before Ebony got it. "Oh, its wonder boy." He laughed. "How would he react to you hanging out with me?"

"We aren't hanging out." Ebony said looking over at him.

"We'll see about that." He said opening the phone. He sat with the phone open.

Ebony could hear Jay's voice saying hello over and over. She knew not to say anything. Even if she was the one driving, he was the one in control.

He closed the phone and laughed. "You use to be so much fun." He said handing her back her phone. "Drop me off here Bunny."

Ebony pulled over and watched him, waiting for him to get out of the car.

"You're coming in." he said with a sly smile.

"You're getting out." Ebony replied.

"Not even to say hi?" he asked.

Ebony didn't say anything. She just looked at him and waited for him to get out of the car. Once he opened the door and started to get out she spoke. "We're over."

"We're never over." He said before getting out of the car.

"She wasn't there." Jay said looking over at Ebony's mom.

"Well maybe she's on her way to your house." Cloe said.

"Her car is parked by the garage." Jay said looking out the kitchen window. He could see her car. He didn't understand how her mom could let her leave and not even notice that her car was sitting outside their kitchen window.

"But she left, we heard her leave." Hazel said, worry had taken over.

"The mustang is gone." Mr. Williams said coming back into the house. He had gone out to check all the cars.

"Jeremy's?" Jay asked standing up.

"Yeah." He replied.

"I'm gonna go find her." Jay said before leaving the house. "Cloe call me if she comes back."

"Alright." Cloe said watching as Jay walked out of the room.

Jay had no idea where to look for her. He had come to pick her up for his welcome back party, but Ebony wasn't there, and she wasn't picking up her phone either. But now, knowing that Jeremy's car was gone, he was worried.

Ebony stood looking down at the head stone. It has been so long since she had been here, so long since she had let herself think about him. She bent down and pushed some of the dry grass away from the sun faded picture. She stood up quickly when another car pulled into the grave yard. She stood watching as someone got out of the car and started walking towards her.

"Next time you want to go out, don't tell your mom you're with me." Jay said approaching Ebony. He stopped when he got closer to her and could make out what she was wearing. "I'm not just some excuse for you to use."

Ebony sighed with relief, knowing that it was only Jay.

"You were with him." Jay said almost in disbelief. "I can't believe you. So what has he got you on?"

"You don't know what you're even talking about." Ebony said walking over to him. "You said you trusted me, are you going back on that now?"

"Don't pull that out." Jay said turning and walking back over to his car. "You look like a junkie, even worse, a whore."

"Did you seriously just call me a whore?" Ebony asked following him.

Jay stopped and turned around and looked at her. "Look at you. Anyone that saw you dressed like that would call you that. What do you want me to do, act happy that you're hanging around with some guy that could have killed you?"

Ebony knew that he had a point, but so did her outfit. If she was going to be playing a part, she had to look the part, and it wasn't something she could explain to Jay. It wasn't something that he would understand. There was a thrill she got from doing this, from dressing the way she was. It was like a drug all in its own. The uncertain of what was going to happen when she was with him, the danger she knew she was in, the temptation to cross the line ever second.

"He's leaving."

"What do you mean he's leaving?" Jay asked.

"We compromised. I help him, and he'll leave." Ebony said looking down at her feet and then back up at him.

"You made a deal with a junkie?" Jay asked sighing. "Ebony, you can't honestly tell me he's leaving."

"I had to try." Ebony practically shouted at him. "You have no idea how hard it's been for me having him back here. Having to relive that nightmare, over and over. You have no clue what it feels like, to know that I could so easily find a needle somewhere, I can almost taste it."

Jay wasn't sure what to say to her. They had never really talked about Ebony's past addiction, it seemed like a subject she wanted to forget. But hearing her talk about it, saying these things made him worry. "You're right I don't, but I wish you wouldn't have done this." he said stepping closer to her. "I wish you would have told me."

"I don't need people to look after me." Ebony replied looking away from him.

"I get to look after you, because I love you." Jay said softly. He reached out and rubbed her arms. "You're cold, come on, lets get out of here."

Ebony walked over to her car.

"You want to follow me to my house, and then we can head to the party?" Jay asked.

"Sure." Ebony said. She gave him a quick kiss before getting in her brothers car and followed Jay.

Tai-san slowly pushed open the door to the apartment. She knew that Bray had told Lex, so she wasn't sure what she was going to be coming home to. She sighed when she saw that all the lights were off, there was a light glow coming from under the bedroom door. As she walked past the kitchen table she put down her bag. She gently pushed the bedroom door open and saw Lex sitting on the end of the bed. There was a black bag on the floor, and a blue ring box on the bed next to him.

"I never thought you would be the one to screw this up." Lex said not looking at her. He couldn't bring himself to look at her.

"Please, let me explain Lex. It's not at all what you think." Tai-san said stepping into the room.

"I think I should have listened to my parents." Lex said picking up the ring box. He flipped it open and looked at the ring. "I bought this a few months ago, but I guess I can return it now."

"Lex, you don't have to." Tai-san said with a pleading look.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I have to." Lex said getting up, he grabbed the bag as well.

"You can't leave." Tai-san said with tears in her eyes.

"I'm not, you are." Lex said throwing the bag at her.

"Lex, please!" Tai-san said crying. She had caught the bag and felt how full it was.

"No, please, just get out." He said turning around. He couldn't see her cry, it hurt him to much.

Tai-san stood there for a second before she turned and ran out of the room. When she ran past the table she grabbed her bag and left the apartment. She had no clue where she was going to go.


	10. Chapter 10

"Visiting hours will be ending in a few minutes, you can come back tomorrow morning." The nurse said coming into Ved's room. "He'll be well take care of this evening." She said when she noticed the strain looked on Lilly's face.

"Oh, of course." Richard said nodding his head. "We'll be by to get you in the morning son."

"If you need anything, you call us." Lilly said kissing Ved's forehead.

"I will, don't worry." Ved said nodding his head. He reached out and grabbed Mackenzie's hand, pulling her over to him. "I'll call you when I'm home."

"Alright." Mackenzie said with a smile. She kissed him quickly on the lips before leaving the room.

Ved's parents followed her out and towards the elvator.

"Mackenzie, dear." Lilly said grabbing her arm softly.

"Yeah?" Mackenzie asked with a smile.

"I'll meet you by the elevator." She said looking at her husband before turning back to Mackenzie. "I need you to do me a favor." She said with a smile.

Mackenzie didn't say anything, she just waited for her to continue. She could quick sense that this isn't the type of favor she wanted to agree to right away.

"I need you to stay away from my son." She said not losing her smile. "You and your sister have brought nothing but trouble for both of my boys, and I don't want to see either of you messing up their lives anymore. You're sister is just going to ruin Jay's life, and I'll be damned if I let you ruin Ved's any longer."

Mackenzie looked at her unsure of what to say. She couldn't believe what this woman was saying to her. "Excuse me?" she asked wanting to make sure that she wasn't hearing things.

"I want you to stay away from Ved." Mrs. Lynnwood said. "And you can pass the message along to Ebony as well. If she doesn't stop ruining my son's life, I will make sure to ruin hers. I'm sure that you understand." She said before walking away.

Mackenzie watched her with her mouth opened a little and headed towards the elevators as well. She stepped into the same elevator as Ved's parents. As the doors closed she turned to look at his mother. "No, you know what I don't understand."

"Understand what?" Richard asked looking confused.

"The relationship I have with your son, has nothing to do with you, and I'm sorry that you don't like my sister or me, but at lest we have respect for people." Mackenzie said crossing her arms in front of her.

Both of Ved's parents looked a little stunned, they didn't know Mackenzie to be much of a talker around adults.

"And just so you know, my sister loves Jay, and you're one lucky mother to have such amazing sons, you should be happy with just that fact." Mackenzie said as the doors dinged and opened.

"What on earth did you say?" Richard asked his wife as Mackenzie walked away from them.

"I…I don't know what you're talking about." His wife responded.

"I have just about had it with you. You stay out of their lives!" he said before catching up with Mackenzie. "I'm so sorry about my wife."

Mackenzie didn't say anything to him, she just kept walking. She didn't want to listen to anyone else at the moment. She had learned so much about her family that day, and she knew she couldn't take anymore.

MWMWMWMWMWMW

Ebony stood in Ram's back yard wearing a sweatshirt that Ram had left it barrow, it hung down well past her waist.

"You wanna go inside?" Jay asked coming up behind Ebony. He wrapped his arms around her and put his chin on her shoulder.

"Sure." Ebony laughed a little when Jay started to playfully bite her ear. His lips felt weird on her ear lobes, and she knew that the girls she was talking to didn't find it as funny as she did.

"You taste good." He laughed standing up straight and turning her around to face him. "You smell different too."

"Breathe." Ebony said as they started walking into the house. "Something new Siva sent me from Paris."

"Hey welcome back man." Pride said as the two of them entered the house. There was a whole group of people sitting around Ram's family area, Pride, May, Ram, and a few other people that Ebony didn't know very well.

"Thanks." Jay said sitting down and pulling Ebony onto his lap.

Ebony put her arms around Jay's neck and rested her head on one of her arms.

And like clock work, the one person Ebony couldn't tolerate walked through the door with Mega, Amber. Things between them had never gotten better, even when Jay was around Amber seemed to become more bitter and annoying.

"I'm so new best friends with whoever owns that Mustang." Amber said.

The whole room busted up laughing. They all knew who the Mustang belonged to and couldn't help but find Amber's statement funny.

"Well then meet your new best friend." Jay said before kissing Ebony's forehead.

Amber's mouth dropped and she huffed as she sat down in a chair. "Why don't we play a game." She said looking at Ebony.

"Sure I'll go first." Ebony said smiling. She knew how to play Amber's game, and she enjoyed making her mad. "Jay, truth or dare?"

"Ebony." Jay said with a stern look, he hated it when the two of them started going at each other.

"Here Amber, drink this." Mega said setting a cup in front of Amber. "It'll get you to shut up in a few hours." He said sitting down as well.

"Peanut butter, jelly. Peanut butter, jelly, with a baseball bat." Started to play.

"Sorry." Ebony said getting up and getting her phone out of her pocket. "I gotta take this." She said as she glanced down at the caller ID. "Hey, what's up?" She asked.

"So what are we gonna do tonight?" Amber asked looking around.

"Hon, you gotta stop crying, I can't understand anything you're saying." Ebony said covering her other ear, walking farther out of the room.

"Is everything alright?" Jay asked looking over at Ebony. He knew by the look on her face that something was going on.

"Tai, no, no, Tai-san you gotta slow down." Ebony said. She looked over at Jay and shrugged her shoulders.

"Is that Tai-san?" Mega asked looking at Jay and then Ebony. He couldn't help but be worried.

"Okay, where are you? Pull over, I'll be right there." Ebony said before hanging up.

"Is she okay?" Mega asked getting up and looking at Ebony. He could see the worry on her face.

"I don't know, I've got to go get her." Ebony said unzipping the sweat shirt.

"Oh my gosh, what are you wearing?" Amber asked laughing. "Did you pick her up off the street corner Jay?" she asked.

"Amber, seriously, shut your mouth." Jay said looking over at her. "I'll come with you." Jay said getting up.

"No, stay, have fun. It's your party." She said before turning and leaving.

"I'll see you guys later." Jay said rolling his eyes and following her out.

"I thought I told you to stay." Ebony said as they walked out of the front door.

"I don't want to be here if you're not." Jay said with a smile. "Plus I might need to bet the crap out of someone."

Ebony went to the other side of the car and stopped when she saw Mega coming out of the house as well.

"What are you doing?" Jay asked looking back at Mega.

"Can't I be worried as well?" he asked suddenly aware of what he was doing.

Neither Jay nor Ebony said anything. They didn't know what to say to him. Jay had never seen Mega show any emotion towards another person, and Ebony was too worried about Tai-san to notice anything else.

MWMWMWMWMW

"He kicked me out." Tai-san sobbed sitting in the drive seat of her car with the door open. Ebony was next to her, with Jay standing next to the open door, and Mega standing next to Tai-san.

"Let's just get you to my house alright?" Ebony said reaching over and pulling her into a hug. She didn't know what had happened. "Drive her car?" she said to Jay as she got out of Tai-san's car.

"Sure thing." Jay said with a smile.

"Come on babe, us girls in a 1964 mustang, that'll make you feel a little better." Ebony said as Mega helped Tai-san out of the car.

"You okay?" Mega asked walking towards Ebony's car with Tai-san.

Tai-san stopped and looked at him. "I'm blaming you right now." She said before running towards Ebony's car.

"What is she blaming you for?" Jay asked coming up beside Mega.

"What?" Mega asked turning and looking at him. "Oh, I don't know, she's just some crazy girl."

"Right, cause you don't know." Jay said before walking away from him.

"So what happened?" Ebony asked as soon as Tai-san and calmed down enough to talk.

"Bray saw me get out of Mega's car at the Skate Park." Tai-san said staring out the window.

"You and Mega?" Ebony asked trying to get facts before thinking to much.

"Mega and I." Tai-san said correcting her grammar. "Nothing has happened, and nothing ever would have happened. I was helping him with a summer class."

"Mega had to take a summer class?" Ebony asked laughing.

"That's why he didn't tell anyone." Tai-san said crying again. "Lex wouldn't even let me explain. He just kicked me out."

"He just needs some time to calm down Tai, I mean you didn't tell anyone about this." Ebony said glancing over at her. "You didn't even tell me."

"I couldn't tell anyone, I knew how all of you would react." Tai-san replied. "He had a ring Ebony."

Ebony could feel her eyes get big. She didn't know that Lex was thinking about going there. She figured that one day they would, but she didn't think it would happen so soon.

"I don't know what I'm going to do now." Tai-san said looking back out the window.

"Don't worry about that right now. You just need to sleep, its getting late." Ebony replied.

After a few moments Tai-san looked over at Ebony with a puzzling look. "What are you wearing?"

"That's a whole another story, for another day." Ebony laughed. She glanced back over at Tai-san. She was trying not to let the judgmental thoughts enter her head, but it was hard to keep them out.

MWMWMWMW

"Everyone's asleep." Ebony said glancing at her watch. It was a quarter after two.

"Everyone but us." Jay said with a yawn.

"Yeah, but you're next for bed." Ebony said with a smile. "Come on, I'll walk you down." The two of them were standing outside of Ebony's bedroom.

Jay grabbed her hand as the two of them walked down the stairs. "I missed this." He said.

"What? The drama?" Ebony asked looking over at him.

"Holding your hand." Jay laughed a little. "Just being able to touch you."

"Yeah." Ebony said softly looking down at her feet. "We need to talk."

"Yeah, I know we do." Jay said with a sigh. He knew this was coming, he just hoped that it wasn't going to be this soon.

"I don't want you to stay here because I'm here." Ebony said looking over at him when they got to the bottom of the stairs. "I know what you're going to say, so save it. I want you to think about this, this is your life Jay, and your mother would hate me if I kept you from it."

"This isn't about my mother, or what she wants. I really wish that you would believe me." Jay said taking both her hands. "Look, I know that we need to talk about this, but I don't think 3 AM is the time to talk."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Ebony said looking around the entrance way to her house. She noticed an envelope on the table that ran along the room, she picked it up and remembered what it was.

"What's that?" Jay asked seeing his name on it.

"I've had this for awhile." She laughed. "My mom and step-dad's ten year anniversary party is in two days." Ebony handed the envelope to Jay.

"Yeah, you inviting me Ericson?" Jay asked.

"You saying yes Lynnwood?" Ebony asked rising an eye brow at him.

"What else would I say to you?" Jay said giving her a kiss.

"My dress is red, so make sure your vest is." Ebony said pulling away from him.

"That was an Amber moment." Jay said laughing at her.

"That's not funny Jay." Ebony said hitting him in the arm. "Get out of my house." She said pushing him towards the door playfully.

"I'm going." Jay laughed. He turned around when he got to the door and kissed Ebony one more time before leaving.


	11. Chapter 11

Mackenzie stood outside of Ebony's house. She hadn't gone there to see Ebony in what felt like ages. But she knew that right now she wasn't going to see Ebony, she was going to tell her something. She held her breath while she rang the door bell. She stepped back when she saw Ebony's mother open the door.

"Oh, Mackenzie, hello." She said with a smile.

"Hi, is Ebony here?" Mackenzie asked looking from her hands up.

"No, she went to get Cloe from work. Didn't you try to call her before coming over?" she asked when she was the surprised look.

"I saw her jeep, so I figured she was here." Mackenzie said mostly to herself.

"After her last run in with Jacob and the police, her father took away the keys to the jeep, she's been using my car for most of the summer." Hazel told her.

Mackenzie could feel the knots in her stomach. "Umm, where does Cloe work?"

"Motherhood, in the mall." She said with a small smile.

Mackenzie turned to walk down the stairs and shouted over her shoulder "Thank you." The only thing she wanted to do right now was talk to Ebony.

MWMWMWMW

Jay sat with Ram and Mega in his living room.

"So are you coming or not?" Ram asked.

"No." Jay said plainly.

"You're giving up UCLA for some chick?" Mega asked.

"She's not just some chick. She's Ebony. She's the one girl I want to be with, the only person I need." Jay said looking at his friends. He knew that they wouldn't understand.

"So what, you're going to stay here, go to Northern, marry Ebony, and live happily ever after?" Ram asked getting mad. "What about the plans we made? What about all the stuff we were gonna do?"

"We can still do it. I'll road trip to LA with you." Jay said looking at his friend.

"You really think this is _the_ girl?" Mega asked.

Jay smiled a little and pulled out a ring box. He opened it and showed it to his friends. "I bought this for her when we were in London."

"Jay, that's serious." Ram said sitting forward.

"I know, I'm serious about her. I'm doing it tomorrow, and I can't leave her here after that." Jay said trying to explain it to his friends.

"Are you sure about that?" Mega asked. "Your mom isn't going to like this."

"My mom doesn't like anything I do when it comes to Ebony." Jay said with a sigh. "But for once, this isn't about pleasing anyone but myself."

"This is crazy." Ram said shaking his head.

"Look, guys, I trust you, so please don't say anything to anyone." Jay said putting the ring box back in his pocket. "I don't want this getting out."

"Yeah." Mega said nodding his head. "You know you can trust me."

"Same." Ram said as well.

MWMWMWMWMWMW

"I need to talk to you." Mackenzie said as she came up behind Ebony in line at the coffee shop.

"I'm busy." Ebony replied looking up at her sister.

"I'm serious." Mackenzie said.

"Can you let me order." Ebony said looking at the clock. "You can wait that long, right?" she was annoyed. Mackenzie was the last person she wanted to deal with.

"Yeah, I'll wait." She said before steeping out of line. She went over to an open table and sat down to wait.

When Ebony reappeared in front of Mackenzie she was wearing short jean shorts and a black ribbed tank that covered up her bathing suit top. "What?" she asked.

"Are you going to be a bitch?" Mackenzie asked.

"If the shoe fits." Ebony replied. She sat down across from her and sighing. "I don't have to listen to whatever it is you want to tell me."

"I know." Mackenzie said softly. She had never thought that her relationship with Ebony would be like this. "Trust me I don't want to talk to you anymore than you want to talk to me."

"Then what the hell are you doing here?" Ebony asked.

"Jay's mom." She replied simply.

"What about her?" Ebony was starting to get annoyed.

"She said something to me yesterday as we were leaving the hospital." Mackenzie said looking at her hands. "She wants me to let you know that if you ruin Jay's life, she's going to ruin yours."

Ebony sat for a second before speaking again. "Why are you telling me this?" she wanted to know. This was information that Mackenzie would have once shared with her, but not now, not now that they were hardly speaking to each other.

"You're my sister." Mackenzie replied as though Ebony should have already known. "I don't know what's going on with you and Jay, but I just think you might want to be careful."

"Thank you." Ebony said getting up.

The two girls started to walk together out of the food court.

"Is Ved home yet?" Ebony asked trying to loosen the tension between them.

"Yeah, his dad picked him up this morning." Mackenzie replied, she glanced over at Ebony and they continued to walk without saying anything for a while. "I'm sorry about yesterday."

Ebony stopped and looked over at Mackenzie. She wasn't sure if this was her telling her that she believed her, or not.

"I think part of me has always known about Jacob, but I never wanted to believe it." Mackenzie said looking Ebony in the eye.

"I didn't want you to know, because I knew how much he meant to you." Ebony said with a small smile.

"This doesn't change anything." Mackenzie said quickly. "You've been lying to me, and I'm not just going to get over that."

Ebony laughed a little and shook her head. "I have to go over to Lex's, I'll see you around." She said before walking away from her sister.

Mackenzie sighed as she watched Ebony walk away from her. She wanted to tell her that things were going to be okay between them, but she wasn't sure she wanted them to be okay. She felt different now, she had changed.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMW

"No." Lex said looking over at Ebony.

"You aren't going to stay mad at her forever, and once you see that nothing happened, you're going to feel like a jackass." Ebony said sitting down on the couch.

"I don't care Ebony, right now I don't want to deal with it. She lied to me, she was seeing other people behind my back." Lex said.

"She wasn't seeing him Lex, she was helping him with an English class." Ebony replied.

"Ebony I was getting ready to ask her to marry me, so I think I should get a little time to be mad before I start to figure out what was going on." Lex said softly. He knew that he didn't have a real reason in Ebony's eyes to be upset, but he was.

"Is that what you want me to tell her then?" Ebony asked. "Do you want me to tell her that you need to cool off over nothing before she can even talk to you? She's been crying since I picked her up last night Lex, I've seen her cry twice in the last two years."

Lex sighed. "Seriously Ebony, right now I don't need you picking sides. I don't know what happened you're right, and it might be nothing. But to me, right now it's something, and I need to deal with that."

Ebony watched him for a second. She knew he had a point, she just didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to think that Tai-san could have screwed things but because all along everyone was so sure it was going to be Lex.

"I'm sorry, but that's what I need right now." Lex said.

"I get it." she said looking up at him. "Just promise me that you will talk to her. That you won't let this ruin everything, if it was nothing."

"I can't promise you anything." Lex said standing up as Ebony got up.

"Well then at lest think about it. She loves you Lex, and she would have said yes by the way." Ebony added.

"I know, that's why I was going to ask." Lex said with a little laugh, he had wanted to ask a long time ago, but he wasn't sure of her answers, but over time he had become more sure.

"Well then maybe that's saying something to you." Ebony said before going over to the door and leaving Lex standing in his living room to think about what had just been said.


End file.
